


Re:ZERO; Ram:IF

by DACHero



Category: Re:ゼロから始める異世界生活 | Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World (Anime)
Genre: Despair, F/M, IF, Love, Ram:IF, Romance, Suffering, ram - Freeform, re zero - Freeform, re:zero - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-26 12:40:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 26
Words: 63,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30106095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DACHero/pseuds/DACHero
Summary: With Subaru being held at the Mathers' mansion after the eventful night at the loot house, he awakens to meet 2 maids that look surprisingly similar, minus their hair colors. He also meets a very bold and arrant loli. As Subaru thinks about the circumstances of leaving the mansion so soon after a few days, he decides to start working with the maids as a butler of the mansion. Assisting Ram, The red haired maid, along with Rem who is blue haired, with their daily tasks held at the mansion. This story, although innocent at first, plays off to become way more darker, as feelings within characters grow for another. All of this, while lives are at stake
Relationships: Natsuki Subaru & Ram
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

"Huh?"

Subaru quietly groans as his vision clears.

"...I don't know this ceiling"

Realizing he was laying in the bed, Subaru takes a couple seconds to examine the ceiling. Painted snow white, with big square golden designs making a fancy pattern, the ceiling's royal design did not let down. Groggy, Subaru slowly sits up and looks around the room.

With no one else in the room accompanying him, he was more than likely confused as to where he is. He opened the buttoned pajama shirt he wore to see if there were any scars or signs of the cut he received thanks to Elsa's skill with her blades.

"The wound on my stomach is gone..." Subaru says in the empty room. The previous day, Subaru only remembers the enemy he was fighting, but he wasn't sure who he was fighting with. Subaru looks toward the door after buttoning up his shirt. 'At least I better figure out where I am' He thinks to himself as he grabs the doorknob and gives it a turn.

Subaru steps out into a hallway. From the looks of it, he was without a doubt either within a mansion or a finely reserved hotel. The hallway extended with red carpet, the walls were painted a tan-like beige, along with many doors and paintings on the wall.

Subaru begins to walk down the very long hallway for about 40 seconds, until he realizes that he has been walking down one direction in the hallway for an absurd amount of time. Looking at the painting near him, he recognizes it as the one he first saw when he stepped out of the room he woke up in. "A looping hallway huh? Talk about a fantasy world."

Subaru speaks to himself as he makes his way to the door parallel from the one he was staying in. "Time to see what lays behind this mysterious door!" Subaru says to himself, swinging the door open. To his surprise, he comes across a girl sitting at a chair facing directly at the door. Subaru examined her, she had bright yellow hair, a dress that was mixed with colors crimson, purple, yellow, and white.

Of course, he could not have missed the way the girl had her hair tied into drills half the size of her body. Along with her monotone expression, Subaru didn't know if he should have been fearful of her stern expression or die out in laughter at such an irritated child's face. Both of those wonderings were turned down however when the girl spoke.

"What a profoundly aggravating man you are, I suppose". Subaru was taken aback by her words. Not has he even spoken a word directly toward her and she launches at him with verbal attacks. This doesn't change the fact in Subaru's mind that she's only a child though.

Not knowing how he has gotten to where he is at right now, and having blurry memories of who with and why he was fighting Elsa at the loot house the previous night, Subaru proceeds speaking with caution. "Uh… You wouldn't happen to know where I am right now would you?" Seeing the girl's attire, she was probably someone of high power within this other world's governing system, if there even is one at that.

However, if it comes to her just being a silly role-player that dresses up for the occasion, the respect he gives toward her without throwing insults at her won't be of any loss toward Subaru. "You're in the forbidden library, I suppose. And it seems like you have no idea what forbidden means!" Shouts the girl toward Subaru.

He looks around the library as his respective mood warps a little. "Cool! Do you have manga in here?" Subaru starts walking up to the bookshelves and observes the books, none seeming to have any titles of any sort of graphic novels. "Huh, these mangas are about curses? What type of manga is this?!". The girl looks in the direction Subaru went toward.

"Don't touch Betty's books, I suppose!" Subaru looks back at her with a small smirk on his face. "Your name is Betty?" The girl looked back at the boy with a pouty face. "It's very rude to come in my chamber and start asking many questions without a proper greeting, I suppose." The girl spoke with small signs of aggravation in her tone. Subaru scratches his cheek and turns to face her. With small energy left in him, he performs his legendary pose.

His finger pointed at the stars and beyond, Subaru exclaims "My Name is Subaru Natsuki! And yours?" The girl looked more frustrated. "Beatrice, I suppose. I also don't like annoying men walking into my chamber! Get rid of that goofy pose!" Subaru broke out of his pose, almost loosing balance.

He leans downward to get to the level of the sitting loli. He says to her "And you should probably get rid of that goofy outfit you have on!" Subaru had no fear of the girl yet, but his outlook would soon change. Beatrice put her hand on Subaru's chest. Subaru looked down at the hand placed gently on his chest as he blushed. "Wh-what are y-" Before Subaru could even finish his sentence, his entire body felt like it was melting.

He screams in pain as he was quick to fall to the ground and roll around, until he passed out. Beatrice looked down at the knocked-out Subaru and whispered to herself, "What an aggravating and rude man, I suppose."


	2. Chapter 1: Ram, the Red Haired Maid

Chapter 1: Ram the Red Haired Maid

Subaru awakens to see the same white and gold ceiling as he did not too long ago. Sitting up, he looked toward the windows in the room. The burning sunlight light blinded him. He covered his eyes from the light and laid back down with his arms open. Before he could start thinking, he heard a voice, definitely not belonging to Beatrice, whom he met earlier.

"Sister, sister, it seems our guest has awoken" Subaru quickly sits up again as he hears "Rem, Rem, what a stupid look on our guests face" He turns to his left where the now 2 voices were coming

The sight held before him were 2 girls. Both lacking in different appearances, the only notable differences were their hair color. One having reddish-pink hair, and the other having bright blueberry-blue hair. And of course, the one's attitude who insulted his looks right upon awaking. Subaru blushed in embarrassment as he pointed at both of them. "It hurts to have someone's looks get insulted, hell, I haven't even gotten out of bed yet!"

Subaru stares at them, as he notices the red haired girl scoff. Subaru noticing that he is being suddenly loud, he stops himself as he covers part of his face with the sheets. "I'm sorry" He says as the girls look up at him and then look at each other.

"Sister sister, I believe our guest is what people refer to as a pervert" says the blue haired girl toward the red haired girl. "Rem, Rem, it appears our guest's looks coordinate with his behavior" The red haired girl replied. Subaru, swallowing his pride for once, looks toward the blue haired girl.

"Rem? That's an interesting name!" With that Subaru leaps up and stands on his bed as he does his infamous pose yet again. With him pointing at the stars, he states "My name is Subaru Natsuki! An unemployed shut-in who watches anime, plays video games and swings a wooden sword all day in his house with no aim!". With a lingering sense of silence, they once again start.

"Sister sister, it appears our guest is a freak.". Rem looks at her twin once more. "Rem, rem, our guest must be having lewd fantasies of us." Subaru gives up as a familiar person walks into the room. With a cheery voice, she walks in "Good morning Subaru! Energetic I see!" He looks up at the girl that walked into the room.

Looking at her purple eyes, silver hair, and pointy ears, Subaru recalls her. "Hey! you're that girl who I fought alongside with yesterday!" She looks at her as she tilts her head. "You can't tell me you have forgotten my name already Subaru" The girl says. Subaru scratches the back of his head slowly becoming embarrassed once again. "Ah yeah- what was it again? Damelia?" Subaru's attempt at the girl’s name made her burst out laughing.

"Emilia you dunderhead!". He looks back at her "Oh yeah, it was Emilia! I'm sorry, it’s hard to remember much of anything that happened last night considering I was at a loss of blood and I was dizz-" The sisters interrupted Subaru. "Miss Emilia, your dear guest is having questionable fantasies of us" they both say pointing at Subaru while bowing their heads down in respect of her.

"Wh-What?! No I did not!" Subaru shouted frantically, as Emilia told them "Ram, Rem, don't tease Subaru too much, will you?". They both lean in apology as Subaru looks at the red haired maid. "Ram and Rem huh? Well it makes sense you both are twins."

Wrapping up the somewhat warm greetings and welcoming from the new people he has met, Subaru was being led to the dining room. While walking down a huge flight of stairs, Subaru questions Emilia who walked along with him "Why am I here again". Emilia took Subaru in after just meeting him at the loot house last night.

After protecting her, she felt a great debt she needed to repay, so the best she could do for her was let Subaru stay vacant in the mansion. After explanation, the group arrive at the dining hall. With Subaru meeting Roswaal Mathers, the owner of the mansion, he has no clue as to what he would do beyond leaving the mansion after taking vacancy at the mansion for a couple of days. He decides to work for Roswaal as a butler for the mansion.

"My my! A very bold approach, I shall take up your offeeeeer!" Roswaal explains. "As for your role, you will be working as Ram's assistant!". Subaru looks over to Ram, which to his surprise, their eyes meet. Ram's face had a blush written on it, and she quickly looked away at a different direction. Subaru stopping his mind from jumping to conclusions, He returns to discussing with Roswaal a bit more.

Soon enough, Subaru was assigned to go with Ram to find a suitable butlers uniform. Ram and Subaru walked together toward the wardrobe room. As they were on their way, Subaru kept noticing Ram looking at him from the corner of his eye. He really was holding back the urge to say something about it, but he forces himself to assume she was looking at his weird appearance, considering everyone in this world dresses differently.

Ram and Subaru walk into the wardrobe room, with Rem waiting for their arrival. "Step over here Subaru, I will be taking your measurements" Rem tells Subaru. Ram went on to find the butler uniforms in the many clothing they have within the room as Rem wraps her arms around Subaru with the measuring tape. Subaru flinches a little and makes a little noise. "Please don't make such noises while I'm taking your measurements, it's unpleasant." Rem says, still having her arms around Subaru.

Yet again, he noticed Ram looking at him with another blush across her face. Noticing they both have met eye contact, Ram does not resist into breaking out in words "Disgusting Barusu, go die" Subaru being a little surprised at the sudden death threat, he shifts his focus on the nickname she gave him. "Barusu? Its Subaru!" Rem finishes her measurements as she looks for the section the clothing matching Subaru's measurements.

The pink haired maid shoots back at Subaru, "Barusu". Subaru replies, "Subaru!". "Barusu". "Subaru!". "Barusu". The two go on for a little longer until Subaru sighs, admitting defeat to their verbal fight. Rem returns with clothing for Subaru. "Subaru, I want you to try these on. However, I will need to adjust the size, since we do not have any that fit you. Subaru puts on the attire over his track suit outfit, and there's no doubt about it that it doesn't fit at all.

If there were any visitors here, they would be disgusted by the way you dress along with us Barusu" Ram coldly tells Subaru, as they exit the wardrobe room. "Hey! It’s not my fault you guys didn't have my size" Subaru replies. But of course, Ram comes back "It's also not my fault you dress so strangely". Subaru opens his mouth to reply but couldn't say anything.

Ram smirked as she gave Subaru a tour around the mansion. As he was looking through rooms, Ram walked into one he's been in before. Beatrice's eyes meet with Subaru's. "Hmph! Get that rude man out of my chamber, I suppose!" Flicking her hand toward Subaru, he was thrown back against the wall across from the door.

"Jeez, that drill haired loli is really aggressive toward me!" Ram looks down at Subaru. "Well, Beatrice is studying on curses at the moment, so anyone as stupid looking as you walking into her library while she is studying, she would show no mercy!" Ram continues "I wouldn't be surprised if anyone showed mercy to a face like yours" She scoffs while smirking.

"Jeez, that hurts Ram!" Subaru remembers her staring at him from time to time, so he prematurely thinks there is something going on behind the scenes that he is not aware of yet. He lets the insults pass.

After Ram showed Subaru the interior of the mansion, she took him to the front exterior of the mansion. "I have a task for you, Barusu." She walks up to her sister, Rem, who is trimming the bushes and grabs the spare trimming tool she had with her tool kit. Ram retreats to Subaru and hands him the trimming tool.

"Do you happen to have any knowledge of trimming bushes, I wonder?" Ram asks Subaru, but Subaru didn't even do any chores back at his home world, so how would he know? Subaru looks away from her eyes and says "Well... I can try!" Subaru exclaims while walking up to the bush in front of him. He started snipping some uneven areas that have grown off the branch, lacking proportions of how a regular trimmed bush is supposed to look like.

Ram sighs, "I'm not surprised... Thankfully for you I have another task to set you with!" She points out the area of soil, and next to it are multiple containers of a brown substance. As Subaru looked at the containers, he walked a bit closer to the area. Suddenly, Subaru smelt something terrible. He plugged his nose as he exclaimed.

"Is this shit?!" With Subaru realizing what he ultimately had to do for his first job at the end, Ram smirked and chuckled a bit at the boy's reaction. "Get to work then!"

The sun was setting at the Mathers mansion. In the room Subaru awoke in originally, he jumped on his bed beat. "Gosh, working at this mansion sure does take work! I'm not surprised." He looks at the cuts on his hands that he received after cutting potatoes for supper. Subaru heard a knock at his door. "Come in!" Subaru yelled.

Ram walks into the room. Holding a tea set in her hand, she places it on the table. "Come chat with me for a moment, Barusu. I would like to ask you a couple of questions."

Surprised by her sudden approach, Subaru sits with her at the small table in the room. "You better be glad it’s me approaching you about this, but are you affiliated with the Witches Cult?" Subaru gets very confused about this question. Not knowing the Witches Cult at the time, Ram explains it to him. "The reason I'm asking is because Rem told me you reek of the witch’s scent".

Subaru thinks to himself: "Wait, does this have something to do with my ability to return by death?" Although his thought was very accurate, he had no clue still and let down Ram's question. "Rem told me about this entire witch’s scent ordeal, and I was just wondering since for some strange reason she wouldn't want to ask you herself, she requested me to ask you."

Subaru follows up "Either ways I have no clue what you're talking about". "Huh. That is interesting. It would seem to me that you are innocent. You don't even know how to at least get near the accuracy of trimming a bush correctly. If you were part of the Witch Cult, you would at least get near decent accuracy and proportion." Subaru squints his eyes. "I can’t tell if I should feel good or bad about that" He says, as he sips some of the tea Ram served him.

After a bit more of explaining, Subaru comes out with a question. "Hey Ram, I know that this might be a bit off topic to what we are speaking of, but I saw you looking at my direction with no words minus a blush on your face. Do you mind explaining- I mean if you're comfortable-" Subaru cringes a bit, awaiting her response.

Ram removes eye contact with him as soon as he finished his question. She says "I was looking at how stupid your clothes looked Barusu. Also, maybe if you got rid of the haircut you currently are presenting yourself with, you'd most likely get women's attention more".

Subaru raises his eyebrow as he noticed her breaking into a small sweat. Not wanting to ruin his status with Ram, they chat a little bit more. Ram yawns, and gets out of her chair. Picking up the tea set. "Barusu, I will be seeing you tomorrow in the morning yes?" Subaru nods his head. As she walks toward the door, Subaru thought of something in a flash. "Ram!" Subaru calls her name. Ram looks back at him. "Do you really think I look that bad?" Subaru asked her.

She looked at him, somehow Subaru was able to tell she was holding back her blush. She walked out of the room and started closing the door.

"I suggest you get some sleep during the midnight"

"Hu-?"

The door closed, leaving Subaru looking confused. Since he's a shut in, he didn't find this to be a problem. Maybe the maid had something to give him? "I wonder why she acts so strangely around me. Whelp, I'll find out more tomorrow. Detective Subaru Natsuki, on the case!" He exclaims in the emptied room.

Subaru looks away from his studying book rem provided with, seeing if the time is midnight. Sure enough it was. He got up from his seat yawned.

With widened eyes, Subaru gets bombarded with purple flashing strobe lights as his vision fades to black.


	3. Chapter 3: Biting the Dust

* * *

**Chapter 2: Biting the Dust**

to the familiar ceiling once again. However, he hears a familiar voice asking if he's awake.

"Barusu, are you awake?"

Subaru rubs his eyes and he sits up.

"Yes I- Wait, what are you doing in my room Ram?!"

Of course, this is a surprise to Subaru, he was not expecting to be woken up by one of the maids themselves.

"I was just checking on you." Ram mutters to the half-awake Subaru. With a small smile he replies "Oh. Then good morning Ram.".

With Subaru stretching his arms, Ram quickly asks, "So, are you ready to do this morning's chores?"

Subaru stops stretching and replies, "Jeez, at least let me fully wake up."

The boy steps out of bed. "Stop being so useless, Barusu." Ram shoots at Subaru with a smirk. She exits the room, letting Subaru change out into his uniform. As he is changing, Subaru thinks about all of the past events that led him up to here

With Subaru suddenly being transported to a new world, he was surprisingly quick to die. With the bag of convenient store snacks in his hand, he wandered around just like any lost boy would.

As he stepped into an alleyway, he was approached by 3 men coming up behind him. "Watcha doin' buddy?" He heard a voice behind him ask. By the tone of his voice, Subaru was safe to assume that he was being threatened. He peeked behind him to see 3 men, or 2? There was a built man who looked weird, another man who had a choker on and what looked like eyeliner. Then there was a really short boy, who had a bowl cut and really looked like he was cosplaying as an acorn.

He whipped around as he felt a pain in his chest. As he looked down, there was a knife in his chest. He collapsed and started bleeding out. The men were yelling as his hearing went out.

"Why would you stab him?!". His vision fading out, Subaru accepted his quick and pathetic death.

He awoke talking to one of the stand vendors. "I don’t want broke customers!" He exclaimed, as Subaru was shaking, trying to understand what happened. "Wasn’t I just stabbed? It definitely wasn’t an illusion or dream, I felt it!" He thought to himself.

"Hey!" He heard a voice scream behind him. Turning around, he saw a girl with silver hair with a panicked look on her face. He also saw a blonde girl with short hair, running in the opposite direction. Subaru started running after the girl, wanting to see what happened.

From there, he met Felt, Rom, and Emilia. That led up to fight between them and Elsa in the loot house.

Subaru, finally reconciling his thoughts and getting changed, gets started on his daily tasks with Ram. Making his way down to the courtyard at the front of the mansion, he meets up with Ram and Rem, getting started on the yard work.

While Subaru was talking to the girls during his work, he noticed that Rem seemed to act very neutral towards him, almost as if she doesn't like him. She constantly was glaring at him during his work. Confused by the sudden attitude, he speaks "Hey Rem, could you stop looking at me like that? It's uncomfortable when you stare." He looks over at the glaring Rem.

Ram perks up, hearing Subaru. "The reason that you are looking at Barusu is because his hair is an eyesore, is that correct Rem?" Rem looks back at her sister, with a pause before her response "Yes, that would be correct." Ram looks back at Subaru.

"I pointed that out yesterday night as well". Subaru strokes his hair as "I thought I did a pretty good job cutting it myself..." He mutters while forming a sweat. They continued working.

"Also, I have a favor to ask of you." Subaru tells Ram. "Pervert." She quickly responds. With a flushed face, Subaru points out "You didn't even let me finish!". He continues. "I wanted to go to the village. Are we running low on supplies? It never hurts to stock up!" The village, being not too far away from the mansion, sells goods for a decent price.

The maids travel there often, considering the amount of food they make for daily meals. Ram takes a moment to think. Making up her mind, she speaks up, "I think that's actually a good idea. However, Rem will be accompanying you so you will have a pretty flower on each arm Barusu!"

Subaru rolls his eyes at the saying. "I just hope those flowers aren't poisonous..."

With that, Subaru and Rem walk to the village after completing their yard work. Along the way however, Rem seemed to not want to talk to Subaru at all. "How often do you come here?" He asks the blue haired maid. She doesn’t respond...

"His face looks weird again" Subaru looks down at the child with silly frustration in his face. "Hey, that's something I can't do anything about!" He exclaims toward the child. All the children Subaru is playing with laugh at his response. Subaru smiles at all of the kids laughs, as Ram approaches his sister Rem, not too far away from Subaru.

"I've come to check on Barusu since break time is almost over, it seems like he gets along quite well with the children, another thing I find wonderful about him." Ram tells her sister. Subaru peered behind him, hearing Ram say something.

Subaru blushes in shock at the maid’s words. Ram didn’t notice him looking at her, as he quickly shifts his attention back to the children. "How could you possibly like Subaru? He's useless and reeks of the witch's scent." Rem responds to her sisters surprising words.

"You mean all of that you told me about yesterday? Either ways, you wouldn't understand why I like him..." One of the children approaches Subaru, grabbing his hand and tugging it. Subaru looks down at the child. "What's up? If you want to say something, then don’t be afraid to ask!" He says with a smile on his face.

The child points at the dark forest ahead and quietly says "Over there..."

Subaru starts walking toward the direction the child pointed to. For whatever reason, as Subaru was walking toward the dark forest, a heavy sense of dread washed over him.

Rem in the background abruptly stops talking. "Is something the matter Rem?" Ram asks as she looks at Subaru walking toward the forest. Emerging from the shadows the forest produced, a small and cute puppy pops out and barks.

"She's here!" The kid exclaims as Subaru wiped some sweat of his forehead. "Why did I feel so weird while confronting that forest?" Subaru wonders to himself. He squats down with the children to see them interact with the puppy.

The puppy, however, starts growling at Subaru. "Why is this dog so aggressive towards me?" Subaru asks the kids. "She's usually calm, what did you do to aggravate her?" One of the kids in the group speaks. "I don't know. If this happens any more times, I guess we're just incompatible." The dog calms down and Subaru sees a chance to pet it.

He reaches his hand out gently, and starts petting the puppy's fluffy ears and face. "There's the sensation I've been waiting for! Hey, for a stray your fur feels pretty-" Being interrupted, the dog viciously bites him. It leaves a noticeable mark on the palm of his hand. Ram comes running over, seeing the biting unfold. "Barusu! Are you alright?"

Subaru's mind takes over him for a second. "Did she really ask if I was okay in such a frantic way?" Subaru puts this at the back of his mind, keeping note of it.

"Yeah, I'm fine. We should head back now." Subaru responds. Looking over at Rem, she was holding a large basket containing goods. Subaru gets up and bids farewell to the children.

As they were making their way back, Subaru and Ram were chatting amongst themselves. Rem was giving Subaru glances again during their talk. Subaru was too focused on the conversation to notice.

Arriving at the mansion, Subaru decides to go apologize to Beatrice in the forbidden library. Subaru remembers Ram telling him "What did you do to aggravate Miss Beatrice that much? You should apologize." He chooses a random door in the long hallway, and walks in

"Yo, Beatrice" Subaru greets Beatrice upon his entrance. Looking up at him with aggravation, she starts "What an annoying man you are, I suppose. Breaking through my door crossing like it's nothing." Subaru bends downward looking straight at the ground. "I apologize for my behavior I caused the other night!" He says in a frantic voice.

Beatrice smirks as she responds with "I'll accept your apology I suppose, only if you get down on all fours!" Subaru having no other choice, he gets down on all fours and apologizes yet again. "What a pathetic boy, I suppose" Subaru looks up at Beatrice with frustration in his eyes. "Actually, I have something important to discuss." Looking back at him, she says "What is it, I wonder?". Subaru looks down at his hand as Beatrice exclaims, "I sense a curse, I suppose!"

Subaru, surprised at her words blatantly responds "Huh?!" Beatrice puts her hand on Subaru's chest. "Wait just one moment." There was a short pause. "You really have been cursed I suppose" Beatrice tells the boy. Subaru gives a nervous look. "Is it a curse you can remove?"

She looks up at him "It is. I'll destroy the curse the shaman used now I suppose." Subaru asks confused, "Shaman? What's a shaman?" Beatrice sighs and proceeds

"People that can use curses to weaken and kill someone, they're quite obsolete nowadays I suppose" Subaru looks down at his hand, black most emerging from it. "This is the curse, the dog bite?... Black mist is creepy." Beatrice removes her hand from the boy’s chest.

"All done, so relax, you'll be just fine I suppose." Subaru thinks about what just happened and his mind snaps. "Hold on... The place where the shaman cursed me, is that where the black mist came from?!" Beatrice nods her head. With a moment of thinking, Subaru was washed with panic. "I've got to get to the village!" Running out of the forbidden library abruptly, Beatrice squints her eyes. "At least say goodbye and thank you, I suppose..."

"To the village? What for?" Ram tilts her head at the panicking Subaru. "Beatrice said the one that is responsible for placing a curse on me is also where black mist came from, which means it was the dog the children were playing with! It might be associated with that Witch Cult stuff you guys asked me about!" Rem and Ram stood there in silence. Ram nods and responds.

"Very well Barusu, I will accompany you to make sure you don't do anything reckless." Subaru and Ram look over at Rem while making their exit, signaling the question if she will come with them. "I shall stay behind and catch up with you later, Master Roswaal needs assistance with his midnight bathing" Subaru feels menace as she tells them this. "Very well, let's go Barusu!" They run out of the mansion and toward the path to the village.

Back at the mansion, Rem pressed against the hallway's walls. Pushing on one section, a portion of the wall turns like a push-to-open door. Walking into the tiny space, she grabs on something, as the sound of chains echoes in the hallway.

"I must eliminate him immediately."


	4. Chapter 3: The Fight in The Forest

"W-what's going on?!" Purple flashes blinded the boys vision as he kept getting his neck ripped apart.

"We have to get there as quickly as possible!" Subaru and Ram hurry to the village after learning that the dog that played with the children was responsible for the curse. With the air being humid, Subaru was a little quick to start loosing breath.

Ram looked over at him "Barusu, now is not the time to become tired and useless!". Subaru breaths heavily. "Thanks a lot, that's totally encouraging!". Nearing the village, the two see lights lit by a torch moving in the distance.

Something must have happened in order for the villagers to be up this late at night with torches. The two don't stop running, as they approach one of the panicked looking villagers "Was I too late?" "What happened?" Subaru and Ram blurt out at the same time. The villager looks at the two with a worried face. "It's terrible.. Several of the village children went missing!".

Remembering the forest the child pointed at, Subaru looks up to the almost pitch black entrance of the forest. "Ram, lets go!" He says with no fear as he runs toward the entrance with her. As they entered, Ram looked at one of the trees and exclaimed "The barrier's been broken!" Subaru fell into a fearful sweat.

"What does that mean?" Ram seeing Subaru tense up, she looks back at him saying "You truly are stupid, Barusu. Anyways, it means mabeasts can enter the village." Expecting another question, Ram receives one as she predicted "Mabeasts?".

She responds, "They're beasts of the witches creation." Subaru looks away from Rams gaze. "Where are we going? Are we just running in one direction without knowing where we are? We have to go and save those children!". Ram yells back, "I have a good sense of smell, so I can smell the beasts!" She refrains from explaining.

After a little bit more running, Ram asks a question "Let me ask you this Barusu; Are you good at fighting?" Subaru squints his eyes at the maid. "That'd have to be a no." He says with a monotone voice.

Ram scoffs, "You truly are completely useless, Barusu." Subaru blushes as he thinks to himself "How can she act like this in such a serious situation?".

Ram and Subaru hurry through the forest, and Ram stops and perks up "I can smell living creatures, one that is not of a beast!" Ram leads Subaru in the direction of the smell. Subaru exclaims "Hey! There's the children! Up ahead!". The two run up the grassy hill in the large field surrounded by forest.

Subaru puts his hand near one of their noses, and feels breathing. With a bit of relief, Subaru notices dog bits along several parts of their bodies "They're still alive! But, it seems like they've been bitten.. Ram, are you able to remove the curses?" Ram walks over to Subaru.

"I'm afraid I can't, we will take them to Beatrice." Subaru quickly looks back down at the child. A girl with short orange hair. Her eyes were slowly opening as Subaru exclaims "Hey Petra! You're awake! Don't move, we'll bring you back to the village where you can say goodbye to the pain." Petra slowly says "Onis.."

"Huh?"

"Onis... Still... in... the"

Subaru coming to the realization, he recounts the children in the group of many that were passed out. "She's right! I don't see the little girl with the braids anywhere!" Ram looks over to Subaru frantically "Barusu, do not go into that forest alone. I'd never find you!" Subaru squints his eyes looking away.

"Again?! With the sudden shout for me?! There's no doubt about it.. Good grief, I cant be thinking about this right now!" He thinks to himself as he gets up from squatting. "Alright then, what do you suppose we do? Petra was putting her friend before her! We can't just let them die!"

Ram shows no response. After a short pause of them standing there, she replies. "If you insist, I guess I will go with you." Subaru comes to a quick realization. "What about the childre-"

"Ram has already called me, I suppose"

Beatrice walks up to the group of children. Subaru getting cut off, he blurts out "How did she-". Ram interrupts, "I will explain later, Barusu" Ram grabs Subaru's hand and yanks him into a sprint with her.

"Which way do you think she is?" Subaru asks Ram. "I'll have to use my clairvoyance for that." Subaru yet again confused, "Your what now?". Ram rolls her eyes, "My clairvoyance. It allows me to see what other animals are seeing, I called lady Beatrice by connecting to a cockroach that she was just about to step on. After she stepped on it, she must have noticed the type of magic that was interrupted and followed suit."

Subaru raises his eyebrows, "Wow! so like they act as your security cameras?" Ram responds, "Please shut up for a moment while I use my clairvoyance Barusu." Subaru thinks to himself, "So cold!"

Using her clairvoyance, Ram finds the little girl straight ahead of their current location. "Straight ahead!" Once again, grabbing Subaru's hand, she launches them toward the location. They were interrupted however, by a large pack of mabeasts.

Many of them looked the same. Red vicious glowing eyes, black and brown fur, overly sharpened teeth, foam dripping from their musks, they stand with instinctive rage.

"Barusu! We're surrounded, I don't think I will be able to take on these many mabeasts!" The two position themselves to be back to back. Subaru states his plan "I have an idea! I'll shove the child to you, take a sharp turn to the left while you and the child run to safety!"

Without a chance to respond, one of the mabeasts leap toward the red haired maid. Ram exclaims "El Fura!". Subarus hair was flung all the way backwards with a body shocking thrust of wind. The beast was flung and hit a tree with such impact and speed that beast split in half.

Thankfully, Subaru didn't have to see the gruesome remains of the dog, hidden in the bushes. "So anyways, you want to draw the wolgarm's attention while me and the little girl run to safety?" Subaru still shook by the wind, replies with a shaky voice "C-can you not reduce my heroic idea to such a formal sentence?!".

Ram replies, "As stupid as your idea may be, I think it would work. I will take the child to the village and come back to help." Subaru force smiles at Ram, enthusiastically responding "Sure thing!"

Ram retreats to the village while Subaru attracts the mabeasts. "You silly animals! You all look like overly-expensive Halloween ornaments!"

"Quietly now.. don't.. don't want to make noise" Someone shuffles through the bushes, making the leaves rustle ever so slightly.

With the mabeasts slowly getting closer to Subaru, he keeps preaching, "What was that one store, ya know, they had a lot of plastic front yard ornaments that looked a bunch like you guys!" Subaru gives this silly speech to the beasts, trying to calm himself down and not be fearful.

"shhhh, don't make noise" A sound of chains emerges from the dark forest. Subaru hears it, being surprisingly near. He was shaken to his core. "Wh-who's there? Show yourself!" A large, iron ball emerges from the woods at lightening speed. Subaru dodges it by a hair, as he saw his life flash before his eyes.

Noticing the ball being bounded by chains, he grabs onto the chains with force as he screams, "Show yourself!" He yanks the chain soon to realize that whoever was on the other side was moving forward.

Emerging from the shadows, a familiar face is shined upon from the white moonlight.

"Then I have no choice."

Subaru's body falls into shock, he looks around frantically, seeing that the mabeasts have ran away. "Wh-what the hell?!" Subaru screamed in his own thoughts. Rem, emerging from the shadows, with a majorly disturbing look in her eyes, slowly speaks. "I would've preferred to do this without anyone noticing."

Subaru's sweat was dripping. "R-r.." Subaru was so shocked he was not able to form words due to the situation and realization. Rem whips the chain so hard that it sent Subaru in the air as he thumped on the dirt.

"Why... Wh-?" Subaru chokes, realizing he got the wind knocked out of him. Rem's eyes gleam red, looking down at Subaru in the small trench he landed in. "It's simply the rule of maids. If one is suspicious, then punish them!" Rem chuckles manically.

Regaining his breath, he asks "Does... Ram know about this too?" Rem looking down at the ground, she mumbles, "I hope to finish this before my sister finds out." Subaru sits on the ground in fear, Rem has gone absolutely insane. "I-is that... How little you trusted me?" Rem looks back up, eyes diverted downward to meet Subaru's. "Yes."

"However, I hope to get a few answers out of you at least. Are you a faction member supporting one of Miss Emilia's rivals for the throne?" Rem asks, lowering down to Subaru. "No, I would never do tha- AA!"

Subaru feels a horrible pain in his left arm, noticing Rem used the chains alone to rip it completely off. Subaru lets out a hair raising scream, and from a far distance, someone hears him..

"Barusu!"

Rem looks down and yells at Subaru, "Then answer this! Are you affiliated with the Witches Cult?!" He looks for a route of escape as he speaks, "Ram asked about that too. I don't even know what the Witches Cult is, I swear!"

Ram rushes through the woods, but soon comes to realize that she forgot her location, and activates her clairvoyance.

Rem, appearing infuriated, yells at him once again, "Don't you play dumb with me! It's clear you are a Witch Cultist when the foul stench of the witch covers you from head to toe!" Subaru gets up and sprints as far as he can toward the empty field.

Subaru runs for a couple seconds, not far because of the major injury and blood loss. He looks back, thinking "I-I might have a cha-"

Rem slams her chain ball on Subaru's neck, instantly decapitating him.

A flash of purple occurred

Subaru runs for a couple seconds, not far because of the major injury and blood loss. He looks back, thinking "Wait, is she-"

Rem slams her chain ball on Subaru's neck, instantly decapitating him.

A flash of purple occurred

Subaru runs for a couple seconds, not far because of the major injury and blood loss. He looks back, thinking "Wh-what the hell is-"

Rem slams her chain ball on Subaru's neck, instantly decapitating him.

"..Barusu.." Tears roll down Rams face.

Being engulfed in purple clouds, Subaru sees a purple hand reach out to him. "How was I killed three times? What happened" Soon, the hand touched him as his vision returns.

"Barusu, are you awake?"


	5. Chapter 4: Contracted

Subaru awakens in the familiar bed he knows well by now. He looks over to Ram who's near the left side of his bed.

"Barusu, have you awoken?" Subaru sits up with no hesitation, responding "Yes, I'm awake Ram."

Ram quickly asks, "Are you ready to do today's daily tasks?". Subaru rolls his eyes, expecting this. "Jeez, at least let me wake up a little bit..."

Ram gives him the same smirk. "Quit being so useless Barusu." She exits the room, saying "I'll be waiting for you outside".

Subaru waits for the door to close, and grabs his head. "Wh-what the hell just happened?! I got killed not once, but three times? What are those purple flashes?" Subaru cant wrap his mind around what happened.

"Well the more important part is Rem, how am I going to stop her from trying go assassinate me?!" Subaru gets changed and goes to the bathroom to brush his teeth. He runs into a familiar face, however.

"Emilia! aaaaaand?" Subaru gets confused to see a tiny floating cat accompanying her. "Puck!" The cat speaks. "He can speak?!" Subaru yells as Emilia laughs. "Yes Subaru, it's my contracted spirit" Subaru looks at the cat.

"What are spirits and how do you get one?" Subaru asks. "Well, me and Beatrice are spirits, so we make contracts with people and we basically protect them with our lives!" Puck explains. "Beatrice is a spirit?!" Subaru is suprised by this, as he thinks of an idea. He parts ways with Emilia and Puck, being in a rush to get to work.

Subaru quickly pays a visit to the forbidden library before going to the courtyard to meet with Ram and Rem. Upon entrance, he sees Beatrice reading a black book, as expected. She looks up from the book.

"What do you want now I suppose?". He greets her, "Yo, Beatrice. I have a favor I'd like to ask of you." Beatrice makes an aggravated face. "And why should I do something for you, I suppose?"

"You didn't even let me ask..." Subaru says, squinting his eyes. "Fine... Let's hear it I suppose." Beatrice responds.

After taking a breath in, Subaru proceeds.

"I want you to protect me for a while. I don't know what's going on but I don't feel entirely safe with the maid sisters, Rem especially. It seems like she is highly suspicious of me."

Beatrice's eyes gleam, hearing Subaru's proposal gave Beatrice a hopeful look. "Fine, I'll grant your nonsense favor I suppose. Hold out your hand." Beatrice grabs Subaru's hand. "I can only pray I don't get attacked again" He thinks to himself.

"I, Beatrice, on my honor, am henceforth bound to this contract. Temporary or not, a contract must be upheld." Subaru looks down at her and smiles.

"Thanks Beako!" Beatrice pouts, "What did you just call me?" Subaru explains, "Oh, Beako. It's just a nickname." Beatrice scoffs, rolling her eyes. "What a ridiculous display of good will I suppose."

"Thanks a lot!" He grabs the door handle to exit, but he comes to realize Beatrice is standing behind him. "Since the contract has been formed, I cant leave your side, I must insure that you are safe, I suppose." Subaru looks down at her and nods. "That's even better!" He thinks to himself. They proceed to the courtyard.

"To the village? What for?" Ram asks Subaru, tilting her head slightly. "Why not? Do we have any plans to get supplies there? It never hurts to stock up sooner!"

Subaru painfully explains again. Ram perks up, "You do have a good point. I shall accompany you however." Subaru looks over at Rem, who is glaring at him. Subaru gets a chill down his spine. "What about Rem? Is she coming along?"

Rem shakes herself out of her glaring state. "No thank you, I'll stay here." She responds with a quick and forced smile.

Subaru, Ram, and Beatrice make their way to the path leading to the village. "What is Lady Beatrice doing here, Barusu?" Ram asks Subaru. "I'm contracted with her, shes here to ensure that I'm safe." Ram scoffs, "You really are useless, Barusu" Beatrice interjects.

"All this walking is tiring my precious legs, I suppose." She looks up at Subaru. "Will you be of assistance, I wonder?" Subaru looks down at her with a feeling of menace. "Y-you want me to let you ride my back?"

Beatrice fiddles with her hair. "Yes, is that a problem I suppose?" Subaru sighs as he picks up the loli and let's her piggyback him. "There's some use out of you, Barusu" Ram looks back at him, with an evil smirk on her face. "Ugh, I'm the one ending up assisting the spirit I contracted with!"

Making it to the village, Ram went shopping for supplies, as Subaru plays with the children. Thinking carefully, he wants the kids to stay away from the puppy. "Listen. I learned something about the dog from the forest. That dog is actually a mabeast. Stay away from it at all costs and do not let it bite you." Subaru explains, but hes soon to be let down.

"You're lying!" "You just want her all to yourself!" 2 children shout from the group. Subaru expected this response. Luckily, Beatrice was with him. So if he was bit and became cursed, she could undo it and prove to the children the puppy was a mabeast. The same girl with purple hair approaches him and points to the forest again. Subaru has no other choice but to play with the dog in order to prove it's up to no good.

Petting the puppy, Subaru says "For a stray, your fur feels pretty good- Ow! She bit me in the exact same spot" He rolls his eyes, expecting this. "Barusu! Are you alright?" Ram rushes over to him. "Yeah, I think so. Beako, come here for a moment?"

Beatrice flips her hair as she walks over, sighing. "What is it, I suppose?" He replies "I think I just got cursed by that dog, could you make sure?" Beatrice, putting her hand on his chest, proceeds "Wait just one moment, you really have been cursed, I suppose!" Removing the curse, black mist comes out of the bite. Seeing this, the kids no longer thought Subaru was lying when he said that the dog was a mabeast. A voice called out.

"Oh so you found out? I guess I'll just have to kill you then."

The blue haired girl approaches Subaru, surrounded with mabeasts. "Wh-what's going on?! The girl knows about this?" Subaru looks over back at Beatrice and Ram. "Beatrice! Ram!" Subaru calls out, Beatrice and Ram both hurry over to protect Subaru.

The imposter village child sends the mabeasts to attack Subaru. Beatrice generates some crystallized mana shards, shooting them at the mabeasts. The beasts fall easily to this attack. Posing with the floating crystal shards around her. With menace lingering in her presence, she states "Prepare to die, I suppose!"

The blue haired child groans "I do hate it when my plans fall apart like this." Subaru hears leaves rustling, as he looks over to the darkened forest, a familiar figure emerges from the shadows. Without a chance to react, a blade was thrown at him, stabbing a bit of his shoulder. Subaru grabs it in pain.

"That was very impressive. Please do entertain me!"

"Elsa?!"

Looking at her presence, Elsa stood there with an evil grin on her face. "I didn't expect to see you again so soon. This didn't play out exactly as planned so I'll send you to meet the angels right now!" Beatrice shoots a round of mana crystals at Elsa, all missing but one. Beatrice rolls her eyes at the assassin dodging every crystal.

"It seems I have made a mistake..." With one of the Crystal's hitting Elsa, she freezes up and shatters into a million pieces. "I'm much older than you. Fall apart where you stand, I suppose." Beatrice turns away, flipping her hair.

Subaru sighs of relief now that Elsa has been taken care of surprisingly quickly. However, he feels a pain in his gut. Looking down, he realizes his guts were pouring out of him. He quickly collapses. "Your guts are very interesting indeed." Her voice rang through his head, even after she was shattered to a million pieces.

"Barusu! No!" He heard Rams voice cry out. She runs up to him and holds his collapsed body. Looking down at Subaru, tears start flowing down her cheeks, landing on Subaru's.

"Yeah, theres no doubt about it, I've figured it out now.. Ram really does care for me" Subaru takes his final thoughts, as his eyes dilate to grayness. With tears pouring down, Ram let's out a cry "Subaruuuu!"

Beatrice, never hearing his full name being said by her, looks down with a pained look on her face. "Why do humans gain such feelings.. I wonder?"

The last thing Subaru saw before his death was Ram with tears flowing down her cheeks desperately trying to save him. As the mabeasts began their grouped attack.

"Barusu, are you awake?" Subaru hears. He doesnt respond, staring up at the ceiling. "Where did Elsa come from? How did she not die when Beatrice froze her?" He thought to himself. Ram looms over Subaru. "Are you alright? You don't seem too well Barusu." Subaru blushes as he shakes himself out of his dazed state.

"Yeah, I'm fine now. I just had something on my mind." He mutters. Ram walks over by the seat in his room. "So are you ready for your daily tasks?" She asks. Subaru sits up. "Not yet. I need to talk to Beatrice about something." Ram asks "About what?" Subaru responds "Don't worry about it."

Again, Subaru gets changed and heads to the forbidden library. "How do you keep breaking through my door crossing like it's nothing, I wonder?!"

Subaru chuckled at his luck. "That doesn't matter right now. I have something to talk to you about." Beatrice frills her hair. "Fine, let's hear it I suppose." After explaining, Beatrice accepts and forms a contract with her again.

Subaru successfully formed a contract with Beatrice for the second time. This time however he will have to be very cautious not set off another event at the Subaru and Beatrice going to the courtyard, He approaches Ram. "I have a favor to ask of you Ram." She responds, "Pervert."

Subaru rolls his eyes. "You didn't even let me finish! Anyways I want to go to the village. Do we have plans to stock up on supplies soon?"

Ram responds "I was thinking about going tomorrow." Subaru notices Rem's face expression change when Ram said this. She looked hopeful. Subaru quickly looks back. "Why not go now? It never hurts to stock up sooner!" Ram pauses to think. "Very well then Barusu, I shall accompany you to the village."

Subaru, Ram, and Beatrice head to the village together. Now that Subaru is aware that one of the children is an imposter, he's sure that she set this up in order to kill Subaru. He decides he wont save her this time, and only the children that were innocently attacked.

After playing with the children again, the girl leads him to the forest entrance and brings out the puppy. He makes sure to get bitten by it to prove to Ram and Beatrice it's dangerous. Petting it once again, "Your fur feels pretty nice for a stray you know- Ow! I think it hurts even more this time!" As expected, Ram rushes over. "Barusu! Are you alright? That dog bite seemed painful." Inspecting his hand, he responds "I'm alright I think."

Subaru checked the children to see if they have been bitten by the puppy yet. "Good, they havent yet it seems." He thinks to himself. Ram approached Subaru. "Alright, let's head back now Barusu" Subaru nods, and he follows them, wishing the children well as they depart.

"Nothing bad has happened yet, but I'm sure something will happen again tonight" Subaru thinks to himself while walking back with the group. Arriving at the mansion's courtyard, Subaru turns to Beatrice.

"Yo, Beako." He starts. "What did you just call me?" He gets a quick and irritated response. Forgetting she didnt know that nickname yet, he explains. "Oh, it's just a nickname. Anyways, I think that dog from back in the village cursed me. Could you make sure?"

Beatrice rolls her eyes. "Fine, I suppose" Once again, she puts her hand on his chest. "..Wait just one moment, you really have been cursed I suppose." Beatrice removes the curse again. Ram, seeing the curse being extracted, exclaims "Barusu, that's the place where the dog bit you! We need to alert the villagers!"

Subaru, Ram, and Beatrice all run back toward the village. Beatrice, once again, piggybacking Subaru. "You better be glad that you're light, or else I would have had trouble keeping this pace while running". Beatrice pouts. "You should be the one to be glad, I suppose. I could just make myself heavier right now! Hmph!" Beatrice crosses her arms.

Arriving at the village, they immediately head toward the forest. They come to find out the barrier was broken, obviously. They continue to run into the forest just like Subaru's previous situation. This time however, they have Beatrice with them so they should be able to save the children easily and quickly, while Subaru stays protected.

Ram used her sense of smell to find the grouped up children, injured. "Beako, can you remove the curses from these children?" Subaru asks Beatrice quickly. She pouts "And why should I do that I suppose?" Subaru remembered Puck and Beatrices relationship as spirits. He continues, "Think about it. If Puck was here, he'd definitely tell you to remove the curses from those children." Beatrice, hearing pucks name, had her eyes glimmer.

"Fine I'll go along with your smooth talk this time I suppose!" While Beatrice removes the curses from the children, Subaru contemplates whether to save the imposter village child or not. "Obviously, she set herself up there to be a trap. So, I'll just have to pass on that" he thinks to himself as he hears Petra's voice.

"Onis... Onis... still... in... the..." Subaru remembers rem, and makes a quick decision. "She's right! I don't see the other girl anywhere!"Ram points out,"Don't go Barusu!" Subaru turns to Ram. "Huh? Why not?"

"If you get lost in that forest me and Miss Beatrice would never be able to find you and it's likely the mabeasts there would kill you!" Subaru looks at Beatrice, who is finishing removing all the curses from the children. "Don't worry, Beako will be coming with me." Beatrice looks up at Subaru. "Fine I suppose". Subaru and Beatrice start running toward the direction where the other kid was last found. They approach the passed out kid, Subaru staying behind, and looking at the dark area around them.

"She's not cursed I suppose. That's strange." Suddenly a pack of mabeasts jump out at Subaru. "Try harder next time, I was expecting that" Subaru says, as Beatrice slices the beasts in half. "Are you alright, I wonder?" Beatrice looks over to Subaru. "I think I'm fine. If you weren't there, things would've been a whole lot different though, thanks."Beatrice flips her hair. "It was nothing I suppose." She says with a smirk.

"Wh-what is she doing with him?!" Rem whispers to herself. Grabbing the chains to announce her presence

"Beako! Stay back, someone that isn't a mabeast is approaching us!" Subaru and Beatrice run to the edge of a cliff, looking down at the bottom, a bunch of stone shaped spikes laid across. Looking back, Beatrice proceeds "I wonder who that could be, I suppose." Rem's chain ball hurtles at Subaru, but once again barely misses. "Show yourself!"

Beatrice, without hesitation, uses her magic to aggressively pull the ball, sending Rem hurtling toward them. She performs a flip in the air, using her momentum to bring the ball with her and performs a safe landing.

He tugs on the chain with as much strength as he can, he can feel it coming towards him like last time.

"Rem?! Why are you attacking me?!"

"Simply put, you're very suspicious."

Beatrice steps in front of Subaru, and announces to the blue haired maid, "Stay back. As long as our contract is in place I won't hold back, not even against you, I suppose!" Rem crookedly smiles at Beatrice with a red gleam in her eye "B-but.. Miss Beatrice!" She says in an upset tone.

Rem generates multiple ice spears and sends them at Subaru and Beatrice, however Beatrice easily blocks them. Rolling her eyes, Beatrice proclaims "Enjoy a nice round of crystallized mana I suppose!"

A purple flash occurred.

Beatrice looks around, noticing Rem finishing her sentence. "B-but.. Miss Beatrice" A shocked face washes over Beatrice as she realizes her crystallized mana was not even generated yet. "Behold, your demise!"

Rem shouts. Subaru looks up in fear, as a pink, glowing horn grows from Rem's forehead. "W-what just happened, weren't you guys fighting a seco-" Beatrice interrupts him. "Silence, I suppose." With that, the fight begins for a second time, or maybe a third?


	6. Chapter 5: Leaping Time and Feelings

With that, the fight begins in between the 3 present people.

"Let me through!" Rem exclaims, as she gains momentum with the chained ball, sprinting toward the two. Beatrice puts up her hand and proclaims, "As long as our contract is in place, I can't allow that to happen I suppose." Rem shoots several more launches with her iron ball, which are easily blocked by Beatrice's quick thinking. Turning her palm upward, a light appears hovering above it while ice shards generate around her. Beatrice sends the shards of crystallized mana flying toward Rem. Making unexpected launches, Rem struggles to keep in balance as Beatrice yells "The perfect opportunity, I suppose!" She sent a shard flying toward Rem's chest

A flash of purple occurred

Subaru and Beatrice stood in silence, seeing Rem standing in the familiar position she was standing in before the assault. "Let me through!" Rem exclaims as she dashes, gaining momentum with her chained ball. Subaru grabbed his head looking at the ground.

"What just happened?"

"Prepare to die, Subaru."  
Without a second to process what was happening, Rem was behind Subaru as a chaotic grin fell onto her face. A sharp crystal suddenly stabs through Rem's chest. Beatrice had managed to catch her off guard.

A flash of purple occurred

However, in the blink of an eye, the three were back in their original positions. "Let me through!" Rem exclaims.

"Sh-she has to be doing something!" Subaru turns to Beatrice frantically. "...What could she be doing, I wonder?" Beatrice takes a moment to think, as she shoots spears at Rem to keep her occupied. "I recall hearing about such absurd and bizarre powers, but I passed them off as myths I suppose." Subaru looks at Beatrice with a puzzled face. "What is it?". Beatrice keeps Rem occupied with shards.

A purple flash occurred

"Let me through!"  
"For demons like Rem, the horn can contain any power imaginable. However, obtaining any is one task that could take years itself. It seems she is unaware, but it appears that she's controlling time itself I suppose. A leap back 10 seconds." Subaru's eyes widen. "H-how can this be?!"

Beatrice launches crystal shards at her, this time flawlessly hitting her. She looks back to Subaru "However, the more she uses it, the more tired she becomes I suppose!" Subaru looks up at Rem, and notices her eyes squinting, as her breathing gets slower. Subaru stands up straight and points at her. "Let her have it, BEAKO!"

Beatrice flips her hair as she sends a group of shards into her stomach. Rem attempts a dodge, but gets damaged in the process. She holds her damaged rib, trying to stop the bleeding. "The perfect opening, I suppose!" Beatrice launches an orb of mana at the injured maid.

A purple flash occurred

Beatrice flips her hair as she sends a group of shards into her stomach. Rem gets hit and collapses onto the floor. "Goodnight, I suppose" Beatrice scoffs, walking up to the collapsed maid. Subaru follows Beatrice and looks down at Rem. "I'm going to drain her-"

A purple flash occurred

Beatrice was quickly able to block the shards that were hurdled back to her. "Any later and my stomach would have been pierced, I suppose." Subaru looks over at Rem. Trembling, she yells "I am going to kill you!" She hesitates, but quickly launches at the two. "I have no other choice I suppose" Beatrice catches the maid by her horn. Beatrice looks at Rem in the eyes. "Now leave, and don't come back for a long time I suppose!" With that, the ground starts shaking as Beatrice uses magic. Her closed fist became very bright, grabbing the maid's horn. The horn breaks off the maids forehead, falling back and hitting the ground. Subaru is left speechless at the scene.

"Now we don't have to worry about the headache of these time leaps, I suppose." Subaru looks at the horn in Beatrice's hand, as it strobes purple. Subaru covers his eyes, as Beatrice quickly opens a portal and drops the flashing horn into it. She turns around wiping her hands, and putting them on her hips. "It looks like we have won I suppose." Subaru looks down at the maid once again. "I'll carry her back, you make sure the children were returned to the village safely." Beatrice nods at him. "Also.. Thank you Beako!" Subaru smiles, telling the loli. "It's Beatrice, I suppose!" She crosses her arms, looking away from him.

Subaru picks up Rem, and looks at the sun, slowly rising from the horizon. "Jeez, now my sleep schedule is going to be messed up." Subaru walks back toward the village, as he sees a frantic red haired girl run up to him. "Barusu! Why is Rem asleep? And injured?!" Subaru looks away from Ram. "She got extremely angry at me for some reason and tried to kill me. I hope you can understand..." Ram's face falls into an angry expression "What did you do to my little sister?!" Beatrice walks over to Subaru from behind. "She's simply exhausted from fighting. She'll be just fine I suppose." Ram seems to calm down quite a bit after hearing Beatrice's statement. "Thank you, Miss Beatrice..." The three make their way back to the mansion. Subaru sparks up a conversation. "Anyways Ram, what happened to the children?" Ram looks over to Subaru. "They were safely returned to the village where they were reunited with their parents." "That's a relief." Subaru says with a sigh. "How are you feeling Barusu? Hopefully not too badly injured by Rem.." Brushing dirt off his shoulder, Subaru states. "Not at all. Actually, Beatrice completely protected me!"

The three make it back to the mansion safely with some chatting. Ram puts Rem into her bed, as Subaru decides to get some rest and recharge for the day. 

Ram walks out of her room and slowly closes her door. A look of distress in her face, someone approaches her. She looks up. "Why hellooooo, my dear Ram!" Roswaal speaks to the distressed maid. Without a response, Ram bows down to Roswaal. "May I ask? Is everything aaaaaalright?" Ram looks down, tears flowing down her cheeks. "A-ask Barusu, I-I am not in a-" Ram falls to her knees and sobs. Roswaal comforts Ram, grabbing a handkerchief from his coat's pocket and giving it to the maid. 

Subaru opens the sheets to his bed as he hears a knock on his door. "May I cooooome in?" Subaru recognizes the voice belonging to Roswaal. "Yes!" Subaru says as Roswaal enters the room. "May I ask? What happened with Rem?" Subaru starts explaining the entire situation to Roswaal, as he tilts his his head downwards. "I deeply apoooologize.." Roswaal says in a more serious tone. "I will take care of this situation immediately.." Roswaal exits Subaru's room. Subaru looks down, thinking to himself briefly before entering bed and passing out almost immediately.

Subaru awakens in the mansion's hallway. Confused he looks behind him. There was a mysterious, spacey void that glowed blue, extending what seemed to be infinitely. He hears a noise approaching ahead of him. Beatrice whips through portals, traveling from wall to wall. Suddenly, the mansion flips upside down. Bringing Subaru down to the now ceiling floor, all the furniture stay in tact as if nothing happened. Ram breaks through the ceiling, leveling herself upward as she sees Subaru. "Barusu!" She reaches out to him, as a vaguely unknown person crashes through the hall's windows. Grabbing Subaru's hand, a red gleam flashes from her eye as Subaru felt his arm exploding with an orange glow, traveling up his arm, and his entire body. 

"Barusu!"

Subaru wakes up in a cold sweat, looking over to his left. He sees Ram siting down, holding his hand. He blushes, "What are you doing here Ram?!" Subaru questions the maid. Ram responds, "I was just comforting you as it looks like you were having a nightmare, stop being so pathetic Barusu." Subaru sits up. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to question you this quickly" Subaru looks down at his hand being held by Ram. She notices him looking, quickly letting go of it as she looks away with a blush.

"Ram.."

Subaru gets out of bed, heading toward the windows, looking into the sun. Based on the position of the bright, white sun, it appears to be around noon. "Yes, Barusu?" Subaru puts his hands on the window sill and leans, looking at the beautiful day outside. "Well..." This was the moment everything was leading up to. He gulps as he remembers something silly "Hey.. at least if this goes wrong, I'll be able to return by death!" He smiles to himself thinking this. He looks over at Ram. "I have been observing your actions recently when you're around me.." Subaru pauses waiting to hear a tsundere response. He doesn't get one, and continues. "And.. I'm going to get straight to the point. I think you might have some feelings towards me that I'm not aware of. Yet again I'm expecting to be totally wrong and for you to haunt me with this forever!" He prepares for a response to smack him straight across the face. However, Ram stands up from her seat, covering her face with her hands. Subaru questions, "Are you alright Ram?!" she uncovers her face, revealing a bright red blush and glimmering eyes. She looks away from his eyes. "Such a stupid prediction, Barusu.. However, I'm so stupidly obvious" Subaru's eyes widen, as his high school nerves kick in. In a way to cope with his nerves without having a panic attack, he turns back to the window, opening it this time. He looks out at the green grass, and the lightly blue sky. "I'm taking that as I'm correct, then?" Ram looks at him and nods quickly. He turns his head back to the view, as Ram walks over to accompany him. "..." She stood there in silence. "Its a beautiful day today" She says. Subaru looks over to Ram as wind pours through the window, sending his hair into a blow. "It's almost as beautiful as you!" His eyes glimmer. Ram looks at him with no response as she squints her eyes. "What a stupidly cheesy line, Barusu. I'm embarrassed to fall for it." Noticing she's looking away, blushing. Subaru continues to gaze out of the window. Slowly, he feels a hand slip into his. "I-I'm glad you weren't stupid enough to die last night, Barusu.." Subaru responds "Th-thank you." holding her hand tighter. They share a moment, hand in hand, gazing out at the view.

Exiting the room, Ram lets go of Subaru's hand. Looking over at her, he asks. "So anyways, about Rem-" Ram snaps out of her state, responding 

"Lord Roswaal fired her." 

"What?!"

"He deemed her as a threat to this mansion, and had to take care of her. She is now living on her own elsewhere. Of course, I will be visiting her"

"I'm surprised you're staying around here!"

"Yes, I'm staying here for Roswaal's sake and assistance"

"W-wait then what was that thing you did back there? If youre so ded-"

Ram stops Subaru mid sentence. "My work is completely separate from my feelings, Barusu. Don't be foolish now!" Subaru looks away blushing. "Right.."

"Anyways, who's going to replace Rem now that she's gone?"

"Lord Roswaal is planning to re hire a maid that used to be here before you arrived named Frederica."

"I see. Hopefully I get along with this Frederica.."

"It is almost guaranteed you will, Barusu"

With that, Subaru and Ram head down to Roswaal's room to have a conference with him.

"And just what do you think you are doing here?" The three gang members tease their victim. "I-I don't have anything, I just started roaming these streets!" The gang members look down at their victim in disappointment. "Then cough up everything you got!" One of them says, spitting down at them. The victim slowly gets up. They grab one of the gang members and smash their head into the wall, making their head split open as they collapse on the floor. The other two run away screaming. "Such an unfortunate situation I'm in... isn't that correct?"

To Be Continued

Authors Notes!

\-----------------------------

YES! I WAS LOOKING FORWARD FOR THIS VERY MOMENT! This is where the series will kick off with a lot more action! With some interaction and romance here and there obviously. This arc is coming to a close soon with one or two more chapters. Also, there was a LOT of foreshadowing in this chapter! So come give this one a read if you plan on reading the entire series! Anyways, I'm off. I need to go work on some more of this story and get ahead of my studies!

Have a fantastic day!


	7. Chapter 6: The New Maid

"So when will this Frederica person arrive?" Subaru asks, walking down the red carpeted hallway of the mansion. Ram responds, "She should be here soon, or maybe Lord Roswaal will introduce us to them at the conference." Subaru looks up. "Yeah, I really do hope I get along with this maid..."

"Rem, could you come here for a momeeeent?" Roswaal says quietly, trying not to awaken Ram who is in the same room. "Yes, Lord Roswaal." Rem responds, bowing at his presence. Roswaal leads Rem into his office.

The office is surprisingly dark, with not too much light in the room. It gives a blue purple like atmosphere. A bunch of papers stacked on his table; it shows that Roswaal is a hard worker. "I have something quite impoooortant I want to discuss.

About that fight back in the forest, it was not very kind of you to assault our dear guest like that you know! I have no other choice but to retract your job as a maid." Roswaal says with sternness in his voice. A fearful and very worrisome expression washes over Rem's face. "No! Please Lord Roswaal! You can't do this!" She exclaims frantically, looking up at Roswaal.

His eyes squint at the begging maid. "I'm sorry, however I can noooot allow someone deemed a threat to my workers to woooork here." Rem, with tears generating in her eyes. She bows down. "I have no other choice then, thank you for everything Roswaal." She turns around and exits the office. Walking through the big, snow white and gold door. Her eyes, were not filled with tears of joy, nor sadness however...

Ram and Subaru look up at the big, snow white door of Roswaal's office. "Talk about royal..." Subaru says, feeling the door, having a nice and smooth gloss across it. "Of course! Roswaal has a very profound taste in royalty!" She gleams while saying this. Subaru rolls his eyes at Ram's word, knocking on the door. "You may cooooome in!" Roswaal responds from the room.

They enter the room, and step in. Both bow down to Roswaal upon approaching him. "I see you have grown quiiiiiite close to Ram, Subaru!" Roswaal exclaims with a smile. Subaru looks away from him, embarrassed. "Yeah, yeah. What did you need us for Roswaal?" Roswall gets up from his seat and puts his white gloved hands down on the table. "I have something important to diiiiiiscuss." Ram, suspecting to know what he needed to tell them, responds. "And that would be?".

"I would like to apologize for whaaaat happened yesterdaaaaay." Roswaal smiles. "I have decided to give you both a raise to compensate." Subaru looks up at him with joy. "Really? Thanks Ros!" "Thank you, Lord Roswaal." Ram bows down her head, as they hear a knock on the door, echoing through the dark room. "That must be Frederica. Barusu, give me a moment." Ram walks toward the door as Roswaal looks up.

A girl in a maid outfit appears behind the door. Subaru turned around. With yellow hair, like Beatrice's, and green eyes, she walks through the door and bows down. "Hello again, Lord Roswaal." Subaru's eyes widen, noticing her sharp teeth. "Welcome back Frederica!" Ram exclaims at the maid. She smiles at Ram. "Greetings Ram! I am glad to see you well!" Subaru walks up to the new maid, looking at Ram. "So, is this Frederica I'm guessing?"

Ram nods at Subaru. "Indeed. She will be replacing Rem." Subaru looks over at Frederica with a smile! "Hello! I'm Subaru Natsuki! Nice to meet you!" Subaru proclaims, shining with pride. She laughs at Subaru's silliness. "Nice to meet you Subaru!" Subaru thinks to himself a little bit, considering the new circumstances of a new maid.

He asks "Also, I'd like to ask, who will be cooking now? I heard Rem was the only good cook in this mansion." Frederica quickly responds, "I'll be handling that." Subaru smiles. "Good! I'll be looking forward to your cooking!" Frederica smiles at his response.

Subaru turns to Ram.

"Also, Ram."

"Yes, Barusu?"

"Where does Rem live now? Since she was kicked out of the mansion she had to have found somewhere to stay right?"

"She is currently staying in a hotel temporarily until she can find somewhere to live. I learned of this through my shared sense with her."

"I see. What is this shared sense anyway?"

"It's something I share with my sister. It's not as advanced as my clairvoyance but it can be helpful at times."

Frederica interjects "I believe it is time for lunch, let me prepare it for you three!" She says cheerfully as she exits Roswaals office. Subaru gives a thumbs up to Frederica. "Ram, question, is Frederica as good as Rem at cooking." Ram rolls her eyes "Not quite as good as my sister's, but her food is still good so you shouldn't worry too much Barusu." Subaru recovers his accidentally rude question, "That's nice to hear!".

Subaru and Ram bow to Roswaal, leaving the room and entering Subaru's room. They both sit down at the table in his room. Ram gives Subaru a smile unexpectedly. This makes Subaru blush. "By the way Barusu, how did you know I had feelings towards you? I never publicly told you or anything..." Subaru tenses up.

He has flashbacks of his previous loops of Ram crying, holding his body. This sends chills down his spine as he decides to tell Ram, the one closest to him in this other world. "Listen Ram. Thing is. I can use return by d-"

Subaru freezes. As a matter of fact, everything freezes. He notices Ram's expression is also frozen, not changing whatsoever. This sends fear down Subaru's body. "Wh-what the hell?!" He thinks to himself. Suddenly, dark purple clouds engulf him.

"God... I remember this scenario! This is what happens when I die... B-but did I die?!" A hand emerges from the clouds behind him, as he feels it travel into his body. A cold sliver was sent across his heart. As everything slowly fades back to normal.

Subaru has a shocked expression across his face as he gasps for breath. "Barusu! Is everything okay?" Subaru looks down in thought. "I'm still alive. My heart doesn't hurt... But the fear is engraved in me." Subaru thought to himself. Subaru looks up at Ram's red eyes.

"I think I'm fine now. Don't worry about me." Subaru sighs in relief. "Seriously, don't scare me like that. Quit being so pathetic Barusu. Wait, why do you stink so bad now? You didn't soil yourself, did you?" Subaru looks at her, squinting his eyes. "Oh, now I recall... The witches scent." Frederica enters their room, interrupting their conversation. "It's ready!" She smiles at them.

Subaru and Ram start making their way down to the dining room. Ram grabs Subaru's hand during the walk. He blushes as she speaks quickly. "This is compensation for our conversation being interrupted..."

Subaru smiles, grabbing her hand tighter. Upon arrival to the dining room, Subaru sits down. Looking to his left, he sees Ram sit next to him as if it were natural. Frederica comes in and serves the food to the three. "Why, thaaaank you Frederica!" Roswaal exclaims happily. Subaru looks down at the food with joy, and does not hesitate to dig in. "Wow you were right Ram, this is very good, thanks Frederica!" Frederica smiles at Subaru with a blush.

"You're very welcome! I'm glad you like it!" The 3 enjoy their lunch. As they wrap up, Subaru and Ram get back to work around the mansion, Frederica assisting them. While Subaru cleans the bathroom, Ram enters.

"Barusu, I'll need you to do a bit more work. I have to leave on important business, I got a bad sort of synesthesia from Rem and I need to see what's going on." Subaru looks up a bit confused. "Alright. If you don't mind asking, what kind of shared sense did you receive from your sister?" Ram sighs. "It's almost like... she was being attacked. Although she is much stronger than me, I'm still her older sister so I have every right to be worried about her."

The gang member screams and agonizes in pain. With his skull bashed in, blood spurts out of the side of his head. "I-I'm s-" The victim looks down at the gang member. "Don't you ever interfere with me again, you fool!" The gang member notices a glowing purple shaped-like stone on the forehead of their victim. "Wh-when did- AAH-" The gang member looks down as his body, as it explodes in a glow of orange.

Subaru responds to Ram. "Alright then. Just stay safe okay!" Ram shoots back, "I don't need you to worry about me Barusu... but thank you" She exits the room, leaving Subaru to catch up on his work. He thinks to himself "Hah- what a cute tsundere..."

With the sun setting, and his work concluding for the day, Subaru returns to Roswaals office. He knocks and enters. "Hey Ros, do you have any sort of idea of why Rem attacked me yesterday?". Roswaal looks up from his work.

"If I had to guess it would most liiiiikely be that witches scent she kept talking about."

"How do people even know what the witch smells like?"

"When someone comes in close contact with Sin Archbishop, they are able to seeeeeeeense the witch's miasma."

"That's interesting."

Subaru talks to Roswaal for a bit longer on the topic, exiting his office shortly after. While on his way back to his room, he runs into the new maid Frederica.

"Oh, hello Frederica! Long day, right?" He asks her.

"Yes, but it went by quick! I hope nothing happens to Ram while she's gone... Due to her not having a horn, her powers are extremely limited."

"Why doesn't she have a horn? Since Rem is a demon doesn't that make Ram one too?"

"It has something to do with her past."

"I see... I might talk to her about it someday."

The two chat in the main hall for a little, as Ram returns from checking on the village. "Lord Roswaal, I have returned." She sees Roswaal walking down from the stairwell upon her arrival back. "Welcoooooome back Ram! Did you run into any more mabeasts? I demolished them all after hearing what haaaaappened yesterday." Ram responds. "No, I did not thankfully." Subaru looks back at Ram.

"So, how did it go?"

"I found Rem at the village, she seemed to be ok... however, she was acting very weird. She was talking to herself a lot and.."

A sad look falls over Ram, as she grabs Subaru's hand and walks toward his room. Roswaal looks back at them, putting his hand across his chin. "As I prediiiiicted" He says with a smirk. Both enter his room as she quickly signals them to sit down. He sits as she sits as well, across him.

She fumbles her hands as she looks down. "I-I really wished this didn't happen with my sister! I could tell by the way she was acting that she's losing herself to reality..."

Subaru looks down at the ground with sadness in his eyes. "I'm so sorry this happened to you Ram..." He notices Ram start trembling a little. "She was such a good person. We grew up with each other from day one! We would comfort each other!" She says this trembling more. "N-now I lost that..." Subaru looks up at her. getting up, he grabs both of her hands.

"I know you're experiencing a lot right now... So I'll make a bet to make you feel better." Subaru starts. "I'm going to spend every day with you, assisting you with work, going places with you, I want to spend every second with you! I want you to feel better. So please..." Subaru looks down as if his proposal was stupid. As he looks up at her again, he notices tears roll down Ram's face. "F-forgive me for doing this so early, stupid Barusu."

She pulls him up to her level and embraces him in a tight hug. Subaru blushes as he leans his head against hers. He feels tears wet his shoulder, but no signs of noise or trembling were shown by Ram. Subaru smiles "I'm never going to let you live this down." He quietly laughs. Ram pulls back and lightly pushes Subaru down to his seat again. "Don't be so stupid, Barusu." She approaches him again and holds him to her chest.

Frederica peeks through the door, and sees the scene. "I better come back later.." She thinks to herself as she exits the scene, without alerting the couple. Ram pulls back as Emilia enters the room. "Subaru! Ram! I want to invite you guys along with me to capital!" Ram looks over to Emilia. "What for?"


	8. Chapter 7: A Day in the Capital

Discord server link at the end of chapter!

"Subaru! Ram! I want to invite you guys along with me to capital!" Ram looked over at Emilia. "What for?" She questions, tilting her head. "For the royal selection. I want you guys to accompany me!" Subaru also gets confused. "Wait, royal selection?" Emilia quickly responds "I'll explain it to you later. You wanting to come or not?" Subaru shrugs his shoulders.

"Sure! I'll go along!" Emilia smiles. "Great! Let's get going now! Lord Roswaal will be accompanying us along the way to! He's someone important to the royal selection" Subaru nods and give Emilia a thumbs up. Puck emerges and gives a thumbs up back at him. Emilia exits the room as Ram turns back to Subaru. "As for your stupid 'bet' I will accept it" she says to him. "Let's get going now! We have a lot to do!" Subauru smiles.

"Yeah"

Exiting the mansion to a dark and gloomy night, the two approach the dragon-drawn carriage. Inside are Emilia,and the driver of the carriage. Ram jumps in with the Emilia and she puts her stuff along with Subaru's next to her seat. "Oh my! It seems like there's no more room for Barusu to sit" she looks at Subaru smirking.

Subaru want to say something but instead rolls his eyes at the ordeal as he walks up to the driver. Wearing a green outfit and hat, having silver hair and blue eyes, and an innocent and cheery face, he looks at Subaru.

"Oh- hello Mr. Natsuki Subaru I'm guessing?" The boy says down at Subaru. "Yes, I'm Subaru! I was wondering if I could take that passenger seat since the carriage is full" the boy nods "Of course you can! Hop on in!"

Subaru walks around the carriage, surprised to see Beatrice at the other side. "Stop right there, I suppose. I came to make an offer with you" Subaru looks down at her. "Yo Beako! What is it?"

She starts "I want to form a permanent contract with you. This will split you some of my magic and you will be able to perform some of my impressive moves I suppose." Subaru hears this and gets pumped up. "Hell yeah Beako!" She gets aggravated.

"Then come on then I suppose!" She grabs his hand and Subaru starts to feel mana flow into his body. Beatrice states her contract line and completes it. Subaru shouts in excitement as he asks "When will I be able to use these abilities?" Subaru asks her.

"That will be in a weeks time, I suppose" Subaru squints his eyes at her. "That's like ordering something you really want from the internet and having to wait an entire week for it to arrive" Subaru groans. Beatrice starts making her way back to the mansion.

"You'll thank me later, I suppose. Also, if you're ever in danger, the magic I gave you connects to me so I'll be able to receive any signals. I'll use my door crossing to get to you if needed I suppose."

She states, while finally entering the mansion once again.

Subaru looks back at the driver. "My bad, I'll be getting in now" Subaru climbs up onto the passenger's seat as the boy whips the Dragon to start walking forward. "Also, what's your name?" Subaru asks the driver. "Oh, mine? Otto, Otto Suwen! It's nice to meet you Mr. Natsuki!"

The dragon travels at a high speed toward their destination. Subaru turns back to speak to everyone in the carriage. "So what is this royal selection Emilia?" Emilia responds.

"A while back, the king and his family went into hiding. People called the council of wise men now rule Lugunica while the dragon is in the process of selecting a new ruler. I am a candidate for 42nd ruler of the Kingdom of Luginica!" Subaru's eyes widen.

"Wow! That's amazing Emilia! Who are the other candidates?"

Emilia smiles gently. " You will meet them when we arrive at royal capital."

Subaru becomes even more pumped as Ram speaks. "You really are stupid Barusu. Not even knowing what the royal selection is, truly useless indeed." Subaru rolls his eyes. "Oh would you shut up already Ram!" Ram smiles "I'm just being honest."

By sunset of the next day, they arrive at the Capital. A large castle stand tall with the background of a bright blue sky. The city surrounding it has many people, and is very crowded. "I see, so this is like a downtown?" Subaru thinks to himself. "We have arrived at the guard station." Ram speaks. Subaru looks back at Ram.

"The guard station? What for?" Mimicking Ram, she scoffs in response. "I have some important business with someone and I'd like to thank Reinhard for saving us back in the loot house." Emilia says. Subaru nods as they step out of the carriage. "Thanks Otto!" Subaru gives him a smile.

Otto looks over at him "Of course Mr. Natsuki!" With the three walking over to the guard station, a purple haired man wearing a white uniform with a sword on his hip approaches them. "Well if it isn't Miss Emilia. Good to see you again. I hope that you've been well since we last met?" Emilia looks up at the man.

"Yes, everything is basically the same, and you also seem well Julius."

Subaru looks up at the man along with Emilia. "The mere fact that you remember me is an honor. And I must say, you've only grown more beautiful Miss Emilia." Falling on one knee, Julius grabs Emillia's hand and kisses it. When this happened, Ram bumped Subaru on purpose, with him frantically blushing. "You're very kind. Forgive me for asking so abruptly, but I have business here and I'd like you to act as my agent in the castle." Emilia states.

"Of course!" Julius smiles. "Also, that boy, I've never seen him before. Who may he be?" Julius points at Subaru. Subaru poses "I'm Subaru Natsuki! A useless servant at Roswaal's mansion!" Julius smiles, tilting his head. "Nice to meet you Mister Natsuki, my name is Julius Juukulius and I'm a royal guard. "The two shake hands strongly.

"By the way, it seems as if you like Emilia, is that true?" Julius looks at Emilia in the eyes. "That would be correct. I think Miss Emilia is beautiful." Subaru nods at him with a determined face.

Emilia and Julius make their way to the building as Ram and Subaru stay behind chatting.

"Ram what was that bump you gave me earlier"

"Its nothing Barusu, just dwell in your stupid thoughts"

Subaru rolls his eyes looking in a different direction.

"Hey! I see someone getting kidnapped in that alleyway over there!"

"And why exactly should we help them?"

"Whatever. I'm going to help them, you're welcome to come along."

"If you're going then I suppose I have no choice."

"Of course, let's go"

They walk to the alley and Subaru sees 2 familiar people and a woman in fancy clothes with orange hair.

"You little..."

"Don't screw around with us!"

"Don't make such a racket, you commoners. Fools with no characters at all pick fights for the most absurd reasons."

Subaru thinks of a plan as he turns to Ram. "Forgive me for what I'm about to do Ram." Subaru whispers to her as he walks forward. "Hey honey, sorry I'm late! It looks like there's been a bit of trouble in my absence but remember who I am and cut me some slack, ok? Come on, let's go." Subaru grabs the orange haired woman's arm, however she violently punches him to the wall. "Get your hands off me you filthy pleb!" She screams at him.

Ram quickly runs over "Barusu! Get off him!" The 2 men stand there, confused as hell. Subaru seems to be alright, not having taken too much damage. "Cliffhanger..." he groans. The orange haired woman starts.

"I don't want drooling commoners following me around. Of all the nerve." Subaru rolls his eyes as he gets up. "Figure out what's going on here! It was the supposed to be the classic scenario where I save a girl from hoodlums! Wait, no way. Are the-"

Subaru notices that there are only two of them now. "It's the guy from behind the shopping district." The bigger man says. "The brat from that alleyway?" The one with a choker asks. "The very same, so for my sake could you just let us three-" The orange haired girl interrupts.

"Correction. It isn't three on two, it's more like two on two on one." Subaru groans. "Oh would you be quiet for just a second? Ram, help me out here!" Ram jumps and shouts "El Fura!" Sending the hoodlums flying away. "Damn you! We won't forget this!" The two hoodlums say in accordance.

Subaru turns to Ram. "Thanks a lot Ram, you saved me. I doubt either one of us could've handled those three thugs on our own." The orange haired girl looks at Subaru with a mad face "Speak for yourself. Whether either of you had stepped in to interfere or not, I was never in the least bit of danger."

She pulls out her hand fan that coincidentally looks like her dress' design. She poses menacingly as Subaru groans. "You're kidding, right?" Subaru mocks her pose as he says in an embarrassingly high pitched voice. "I didn't need your help, understand? I'm a super strong fiery independent woman.

I was doing just fine on my own." Subaru quickly gets a response. "No. This world is designed to operate the way that works best for me, so I'm never disadvantaged whatsoever." Subaru squints his eyes. "Jeez, talk about self centered, holy shit" He thinks to himself as he responds sarcastically. "Woah. R-really? Guess I shouldn't have stepped in then, sorry to interefere."

Emilia appears at the entrance of the alleyway. "So that's where you ran off too. I was looking around everywhere for you two!" A person walks up to Emilia's side. "Dont you mean, we?" Subaru points at the man. "Wait, who's that person with you?" He responds "I'm the knight for the woman standing before you."

"Huh? But that would mean she's of high status right?"

"The woman standing before you is one of the candidates to succeed to the throne., Priscilla Barielle herself."

"Woah, seriously?" Subaru turns back to Priscilla in shock. "My, my. How very attentive of you to wait where you knew I would be, I commend you for your dedication Al." Subaru looks over at the man, seeing him giving a thumbs up.

With night falling upon them, Subaru, Ram, and Emilia then head to the royal castle for the royal selection event. Arriving at the castle, they see Roswaal already waiting for them as well as dozens of other people. "Ros?! How are you already here?"

"My my! It's very nice to see all three of you here!"

"It's nice to see you here Lord Roswaal." Ram bows down.

Subaru examines the massive room. A large red carpet flowing down the middle, standing at the sides of the carpets are a bunch of people dressed in the same attire as Julius. At the front stood 3 other people. "So those must be the other candidates then, huh?" "Yes, they are." Emilia responds.

Ram grabs Subaru's hand as she points over to an area. "I think we are supposed to stand there." Ram points to a group of dozens of knights. Subarus eyes widen. "Wait, so I can stand there too?" Emilia nods as she says. "Go on now! I have to get up to the front!"

Emilia steps up to the front of the carpet with the other candidates of the selection. A red haired man who Subaru already knew as Reinhard approached him. "So you decided to come after all, Subaru. When I heard that Miss Emillia would be here, I had a rather strong suspicion that you would be here as well." Subaru smirks at him. "Hey, Reinhard, I've been looking for you!" Looking behind Reinhard, he sees Julius walking by.

Subaru cheerfully waves at him. "Hey Julius!" Julius hears Subaru's voice as he makes his way over to him. "I didn't expect for you to be here!" Reinhard smiles at the two interacting. "So you and Julius are friends I take it?" Subaru responds "Not yet exactly. We met at the guard station a while back but we seem to get along well!" Reinhard responds happily. "I see. That's nice to hear."

A voice speaks from the podium at the front of the large hall. "Now, if I may be so forward, I, Marcos, leader of the imperial knights, will act as the director for all of today's proceedings. It all happened around half a year ago, when all members of the royal family, starting with the king, went into hiding, one by one, cau-" A girls voice interjects. "Listen, I get that you want to talk things up and put on a good show here, but I'm kind of busy y'know. You may not have heard it but we have a saying back in Kararagi, time is money.

Subaru perks up. "That attitude seems familiar but I can't seem to place the person it belongs to..." Ram looks over to Subaru, whispering "That's how everyone in Western Kararagi acts."

Another voice speaks. "I couldn't agree more!" Marcos speaks again. "Miss Crusch, should the head of the Karsten family say such a thing?" A woman's voice speaks up "I acknowledge that it's important to observe formality, but it is also a fact that our time is rather limited. So it would be wise to immediately inform us as to why we're here. Naturally however, I do have a general idea."

The man on the throne speaks. "Am I to understand you already know the purpose of this meeting then? The woman named Crusch responds. "Yes, I do, Lord Miklotov. For a drinking party. One day soon, we'll face each other as rivals, but by sharing drinks and conversing at the same table we'll have a chance to learn more about one another." The man on the throne responds

"No ma'am, that is not correct." Crusch looks back at the group of knights on the side Subaru is standing on. "-Felix? This is not what you told me earlier." Felix pops out of the large group of men. "What? That's not twue! All I said was maybe it will be a dwinking party, I never said I knew it for a fact or anything." Crucsh gazes downward. "I see. then I jumped to conclusions. Forgive me, please allow me to retract everything I just said."

Another voice speaks out from the candidates. "Now just a second, even if she backs down my opinion on this isn't gonna change. There's no need to explain the royal selection process now, we already know how it works, am I right?" Emilia nervously speaks. "Well, even so I think maybe we should hear th-" Emilia gets interrupted by another person in the group. "Sorry, but I don't remember asking for your opinion on any of this business."

Al, being present as well, speaks. "Heyyy! I don't know what's up with the royal selection, so I'd kind of like to hear the rest." The man on the throne grows frustrated. "Excuse me, but I was informed that this young man is your knight, Miss Priscilla, haven't you explained the royal selection process to him?"

"Whether I have or not holds no merit. You men will still ramble on about it, won't you? Please continue Marcos." Marco's continues. "As you wish. There's a specific reason we've gathered you who are qualified to be the dragons priestess. A new prophecy has been engraved in the dragon stone. This new insight says, from the five capable of becoming the nation's new leader, choose one priestess to enter into a covenant with the dragon."

Subaru perks up. "Wait, five?" As Reinhard responds. "That's right. At the moment, there are only four candidates for the honor, and the royal selection hasn't even begun as of yet. But today, history will be set in motion." Marcos proclaims. "Knight Reinhard Van Astrea, come forward."

"Yes sir!" Reinhard steps forward. "Honored members of the council of wise men. Imperial knight, Reinhard Van Astrea would like to announce the completion of my mission. The fifth contender, the final candidate mentioned in the prophecy, has been located! The one I myself revere as queen. Her name is Miss Felt!"

Subaru frantically turns around at the door. Seeing the familiar girl with short blonde hair as his eyes widen.

Back in an alleyway, someone drags their nails across the bricks walls. Looking up, they grab their head and start viciously groaning as they grab their forehead. "WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY" They start hitting their head against the floor as their forehead shines with a purple.

"Fear not my dear! We will get out of this soon together my friend!" A voice speaks to the person. "Yes~ I agree." Another voice lustfully speaks. As they walk into the moonlight burning behind the castle's sight, their dirty blue hair is revealed.

Rem stands there as she foams from her mouth. "Dear dear, don't be so disgusting will you?" She speaks to herself. Rem grabs her head as the severed horn stops glowing. "Oh.. what am I doing here?" She thinks to herself as she looks back at the alleyway behind her. Walking back.


	9. Chapter 8: Dissociative Identity Disorder

Felt walks down the red carpet and stops at Reinhard's presence. "Thank you for gracing us with your presence, Miss Felt. It's wonderful to see you." Reinhard gets down on one knee as he bows his head down. "Ah. Reinhard." Felt walks up to Reinhard almost as if she's happy to see him, however suddenly she gets angry and tries to kick him, with Reinhard easily blocking it.

Felt exclaims "You bastard! Why the hell did you drag me to whatever this is with no explanation!" Reinhard laughs. "You surprised me. What could've brought on such aggressive behavior?" Felt yells back. "Don't just stop my kick and ask me that like nothing happened, because I've had about all I can take of your surprises!" Subaru yells from the group. "Its nice to see you Felt!" He waves at her as she waves back.

Marcos speaks from the front. "Miss Felt, if you've finished rekindling old friendships, I ask that you please step over here." Felt makes her way over. "Fine. So what is it you want me to do anyway?". Reinhard proceeds "If you were asking me, I'd say to act more like a lady, but this comes first."

Reinhard places an insignia on Felt's hand, the same one that Emilia had stolen from here. The jewel in the middle started glowing as soon as she held it, meaning the dragon gem has recognized her as a candidate.

Everybody seems to be in shock. Reinhard points at the gleaming stone. "As you can see, the dragon gem has recognized Miss Felt as a priestess. Now that her participation has been approved by the powers that be, I believe it's time to begin the royal selection process in earnest."

After some more attitude is shot around with comments left and right, the selection begins. The man at the throne speaks. "Well then, are you all quite finished?" Marcos steps forward. "Would the royal selection candidates please come forth at this time?"

"Miss Priscilla Barielle, and her attendant, Al."

Priscilla walks up to the podium and faces the present audience "This selection process is pointless. I'm the only one who's suited to rule this nation! All you people need to do is gobble before my feet and serve me!" She poses with her hand fan once again.

Subaru rolls his eyes, noticing Ram holding onto his arm. Subaru blushes and bonks her head. "The head of the Karsten family, Miss Crusch Karsten, and her attendant, the knight Felix Argyle." Marcos continues. Crusch, the green haired girl with sharp yellow eyes and a very formal uniform, steps up.

"Should I become the new ruler, I vow, the dragon will forget it's demanded covenant. The dragon's empire of Luginica belongs not to that beast but to it's people."

"Miss Anastasia Hoshin, of the Hoshin company, and her attendant, the knight Julius Juukulius."

Subaru notices someone as short as Beatrice walk up to the podium. With purple hair and a white fluffy outfit, she continues. "I'm a greedy little gal so I want everything. No amount of commercial success can satisfy me. I want to have my very own nation!"

"Miss Emilia, and the man who's endorsing her, Margrave Roswaal L. Mathers."

Emilia steps up to the podium and takes a deep breath. "I have only one wish. Equality for everyone! I desire to create a nation where all citizens are equal." Roswaal happily says."Stiiil, after the very formal and official sounding introduction of all those knights as attendants. I must admit that I feel terribly out of place heeere!"

"Finally, Miss Felt, and her attendant, the knight Reinhard Van Astrea." She looks over to Marcos. "Hang on, don't get the wrong idea! I never said I wanted to be the next ruler of this stupid country! Who'd want to be in a royal selection?"

"Miss Felt, do you actually wish to withdraw from the royal selection?"

"Damn right I do!"

A voice speaks out from the audience. "What a joke. I've overlooked this because this situation was urgent, but to drag it out this long is senseless!" Another responds." He has a point! The Astrea family offers a gutter rat to rule us, while Margrave Mathers endorses a half-devil? Utter foolishness!"

Roswaal claps his hands together. "Now let's mind our manners, it's not nice to call a half elf something so cruel." The man continues"That silver-haired half devil matches the appearance of the witch of envy as it has been described for many generations now! Why do you not realize that even allowing her in the throne room is dreadful! Filthy woman." Subaru tightens up as Ram squeezes onto his arm tighter.

"It's ok Barusu, I am sure someone will interject somehow." Emilia turns around and faces the audience with a stern face. "Allow me to formally introduce myself to the honored council of elders. My name is Emilia! I am accompanied by Puck, a great spirit who controls fire, and I'm a silver-haired half elf." Everyone appears visibly shocked at the fact that she admitted to being a silver-haired half elf.

"I understand that my half elf lineage and other similarities to the infamous witch subject me to prejudice. However, I refuse to let all my potential to be plucked out simply for that reason. I will not falter." Emilia finishes. The man at the throne stands up. "All of the candidates are here at last! The royal selection will now begin!"

With that, the royal selection voting has been made official. Subaru wishes farewell to Julius and Reinhard, as he walks out with Ram and Emilia to his side. Subaru yawns as Emilia looks over to them. "Hey, Subaru, Ram." He looks over at Emilia. "Yes?"

"I'm planning to stay at a motel for the night, would you mind that?"

"Sure! I need sleep anyways, I'm beat!"

The three make their way to a nearby motel. "Only two rooms are available. Coincidentally, one with two beds, and one with one bed! I'll be taking the one bedroom!" Emilia says cheerfully. Subaru sweats a little. "I'll be sharing a room with Ram?" he thinks to himself.

"Alrighty" Subaru says. The three head to their rooms as Subaru bids Emilia goodnight. Subaru and Ram enter their room and drop off their stuff by their beds. "Dang, I'm tired. Ima head straight to bed, Goodnight Ram." Subaru lays on his bed. "Goodnight, Barusu." Ram says back. Subaru switches off the lamp as he rolls over facing the wall.

"Nice... I got the wall side; I can go ah-" Subaru's thoughts get interrupted as he feels his covers being moved and he feels another presence crawl into his bed. Subaru freezes as his body turns cold. Arms wrap around him. "I-is that Ram?!" Subaru doesn't move.

Ram must have been thinking Subaru was asleep. "Damn!" Subaru flushes himself in his own thoughts, thinking if he should do anything. He hears the breathing behind him subside into a pattern, Ram was asleep. Subaru slowly turns around and rests, facing the red-haired maid. "Yeah, I'm really never letting you live this down..."

"The hell are you doing at my stand this late at night, scram!" A vendor yells at someone at their stand. Rem grabs the fruit at the stand. "H-hello sir! I would like to adopt one of your animals!" The vendor looks at her confused. "The hell you talking about, you crazy or somethin'?"

Rem grabs one of the apples and starts banging it against the concrete ground. "HEY!" The vendor yells at her. Splitting the apple in half easily, she reveals a worm inside the apple. She eats the worm, swishing it around in her mouth. "Wh-what the hell?!" The vendor pushes Rem away. "Thank you, good sir!" bowing down multiple times at the man in a quick manner. "What a freak"

Rem walks down the sidewalk casually. She grabs the severed horn on her forehead. "Ouch! That hurts..." She looks around, seeing the sun slowly rising.

Emilia wakes up early the next morning. She yawns, as Puck emerges from her crystal pendant. "Good Morning Lia!" He says cheerfully. "Good morning Puck!" Emilia starts changing out as Puck says. "I've been watching Subaru and Ram recently, they seemed to be very close!" Emilia puts on her casual dress. "Yeah! I'm aware! After all that happened in between them and Rem, it's kind of sad..."

Puck looks down as he quickly changes the subject. "Anyways, Lia, what would you like to do today?" Emilia exits her room with Puck. "Let's spend some time at the capital and go back to the mansion this afternoon!" Puck nods. "Sure Lia!" He cheerfully says as they make their way to around the city.

Subaru opens his eyes to Ram's face, her body pressed up against his. Subaru blushes as he strokes her hair. She wakes up and blushes, letting him stroke her hair for a little bit. He gets up and stretches and yawns. Ram gets up as well shortly after. "Oh, good morning Ram!" she smiles at him. "To you as well, Barusu!".

The two take turns to get changed in the room separately as they both meet outside. "Barusu, how about we go clothes shopping? You always wear those strange clothes." Subaru nods. "Sure, I found some of the clothes around here to be cool anyways!" Ram smiles. "Finally"

Walking out to the city, Ram and Subaru make their way to a clothing stand. Walking through it, Ram points out something. "Barusu! There's something here that matches your clothing!" Pulling out a cloak that has a black and orange pattern, she passes it to Subaru. "Lets get this for you!" Ram exclaims.

Subaru smiles, "Sure!". Making their purchase, they continue to go get drinks at a near by café. "Ram, what would you like?" Subaru makes the order, and they proceed to sit down and drink. "Ram? -"

"Yes Barusu?"

"Why did you sleep with me last night?"

Ram hesitates with this question being brought up.

"Why did you stroke my hair so much, Barusu?"

Subaru rolls his eyes. "You can be too cute sometimes..."

Ram blushes, as she looks away.

"Also, Barusu, would you mind trying on that cloak I bought you today?"

Subaru smiles. "Sure!" Subaru puts the cloak on, pulling up the hood.

Beatrice walks up behind the two. "Hey, Beako!" Subaru tells her. "Your mana seemed to develop to the adjustment of our contract rather quickly I suppose." Beatrice flips her hair. Immediately, Subaru asks the question. "What magic can I do?" Beatrice scoffs. "I should have expected you to ask that, I suppose. Pull out your hand and either mentally or verbally say "Minya" I suppose."/

Subaru holds out his hand, palm facing upward. He breaths, focusing his energy and his mana. "Minya" Subaru mutters. Subaru smirks, looking at Ram and Beatrice.

"Look I suppose!" Beatrice points out a small light near Subaru's body generate. A couple seconds later, a crystallized shard appeared. "Woah! I could do this?!" Subaru says excitedly. "How do I launch one of these shards?" He looks at Beatrice asking.

"Focus your attention on someone or something, I suppose. Like that bug on the ground right there!" Subaru looks down to see a beetle like bug on the ground. Automatically, the shard launches at the beetle, piercing through its entire body. "Woah! that's amazing!" Subaru exclaims, sharing his excite once again.

Meanwhile, Emilia cheerfully talks to Puck while walking around the city. Nearing a dark alleyway, Puck abruptly disappears. "P-Puck?" Emilia questions as she looks around. Looking into the dark alleyway, she sees a figure laying against the wall. The figure's head turns to face Emilia who is standing at the entrance of the alleyway, noticing a purple glow on their forehead.

"We meet again, Miss Emilia.


	10. Chapter 9: The Witch Cult

"We meet again, Miss Emilia."

Emilia stood in fear as she saw the figure in the alleyway slowly get up. The purple light glimmered from their forehead as they started walking toward her. Emilia started to step back slowly as suddenly the mood of the person who was confronting her suddenly changed. "My, your name is Miss Emilia I take it?" Stepping out of the alleyway, a blue haired girl with longish hair and a different outfit appeared in front of her.

"Uh..." Emilia did not know what to say at the presence. "No need to fear, I'm not here to hurt you my friend! Let us take a roll through this fine city." The girl signaled Emilia to follow her. Emilia not seeing any signs of malice, even after the strange greeting, started walking with her. "I am sorry if I had a strange greeting back there, I'm on edge." She started.

Emilia looked at the girl, slightly uneased. "How did you know my name?" She asked. "Well, isn't that solemnly obvious? The royal selection!" Emilia eased her nervousness. "What did you mean by 'we meet again'?" She asked again. The blue haired girl looked at her. "A long time ago, you helped me retrieve my stolen item." Emilia now was comfortable with this person. "I see, I'm glad you're doing well then!" Emilia smiles.

Subaru and Ram bid farewell to Beatrice. Subaru making a promise to Beatrice to see her for magic training when they got back to the mansion. Subaru greets Otto as they get in the carriage. "Are you ready to head back now Mr. Natsuki?" He asks. "Yes Otto, I'll be tipping you this time!" Subaru exclaims with a thumbs up. Otto smiles. "Thank you, Mr. Natsuki!" They start riding to the mansion.

With the chilly day, Ram cuddled close to Subaru. "I hate the cold" Ram said with a frustrated tone. Subaru smiles as he pulls out a blanket from his luggage. "Here Ram, come under here with me." The two cuddle underneath the blanket as Ram quickly passes out. Subaru smiles and blushes as he too starts to get sleepy.

"Anyways" the blue haired girl started. "I want to know, where do you live?" Emilia hesitates to answer this question, but she replies. "About 12 hours away from the capital. I live in a mansion.." Emilia stops herself there. "I see, that is very nice my dear, I'm glad you're doing well for yourself!" She says with a overly happy tone. "By the way... What's that odd glowing stone on your forehead?"

Awakening during sunset and almost upon arriving at the mansion, Subaru awakens due to the noticeable drop in temperature. Surprisingly, Ram awoke at the same time as he did. "It feels a bit colder than normal, doesn't it Ram?"

"It does actually."

Subaru squints his eyes as he senses a bad feeling. "I hope nothing bad has happened at the mansion."

"Due to Lord Roswaal's abilities, I'm sure we'll be fine."

Otto pulls up to the mansion. However, at the entrance, there were multiple people. Many of them looked to have the same cloak on, with black and red colors, each one of them having the hood pulled up except for one, ho had green hair and a red and black cap.

"Barusu, stay back! It's The Witch Cult!" Ram exclaims in fear. Subaru realized his bad feeling upon arriving at the mansion to be correct. "I knew something like this would happen..." Otto looked back in fear. "Sh-should I be worried about this?" Subaru quickly calms his fears.

"Don't worry about this, Otto." Getting out of the carriage, the two slowly walk up to the group, keeping a safe distance. Slowly, the green haired man turned around, to reveal his face in the dark night as he spoke.

"I have been waiting ever so patiently to meet you, believer in love."

The person standing before them had pale white skin, eyes that looked like they were on the verge of falling off. He was slim, tall, and has wrinkly skin. His eyes were unforgettable however. They looked crazed, as his pupils were small compared to the size a regular human's pupils should be. Subaru speaks in a stern voice. "Who are you? What are you doing here?!"

The man jumped a small height while putting his hand over his mouth. "Oh right! I sometimes forget the social trivialities when I'm excited. I am a Sin Archbishop of The Witch Cult, representing sloth, Betelgeuse Romanee-Conti. Yes! We are here in the name of the ordeal! Now tell me, you wouldn't to happen to know where the silver-haired half devil is, would you?" The man says with intrigue in his voice as his eyes widened.

Subaru cautiously asks. "Do you mean Emilia?!" The man jumped up once again as he started slowly leaning back while standing. "How diligent! Diligent! Diligent! It seems like you care deeply for her! Diligence!" To Subarus surprise, he notices purple arms emerge from the man's back. He turns around as he leans backward and turns his head to Subaru, as the arms start going toward Ram.

Subaru quickly noticing this, he pushed Ram away from the grasp of the arms. The mans eyes widen to an unbelievable length. "Did you just see my unseen hand?! This is not good, my own authority, authority of sloth, ah!" The man starts to viciously bite his fingers to the point of making them bleed and the bone present. Subaru and Ram look at the man with widened eyes.

"Ram, stay back, he's got invisible arms!" Ram turns to him confused. "Wait , how do you know Barusu? I didn't see anything like arms-" "No idea!" He interrupts. Ram sends wind at them, shouting "Ul Fura!". The attack hit the men, which seems to completely destroy the majority of them.

"The perfect time to use my magic, I'm not powerless anymore!" Subaru thinks to himself. He turns his palm upward as light appears above it.

"I think it's about time for you to die! Minya!"

Subaru generates several crystal shards as he send them launching toward the man. However, he quickly and easily crushed them with his purple hands.

The man now noticing Subaru's relationship with the girl, he screams. "Truly diligent! You're risking your life for this girl!" He sends several of his unseen hands at Ram.

"RAM!" being at a far distance from her, the purple hands grab her. Twisting her body and stretching it to unbearable lengths almost to the point of splitting her apart. She's then dropped on the floor making a hard thump. Subaru rushes over to her as he grabs Ram. Her blood was quickly pouring out from her body. "Ram... RAM!" Subaru screams in despair as Ram weakly starts to lean up to Subaru's ear.

"Please... stay... alive... Barusu... I... lo-" Ram stopped her sentence as she grabbed Subaru's hand and leaned in, wanting to kiss him before sealing her fate. However, the man used his purple hands to rip her away from him. Leaving only her arm, ripped off still holding Subaru's. Subaru looked down at the arm as his eyes shake. Tears start flowing down Subaru's eyes at a very fast rate. "R-RAAAAAAAMMM"

He screams into the sky as the man jumps down the flight of stairs leading into the mansion with excitement. Smiling ear to ear, showing his entire jaw, he screams. "How slothful! By you doing nothing, you practiced sloth and this girl died!" Subaru kept looking at the sky with despair. He turned his gaze at the man, he didn't even speak. Subaru stood up as he pulls up his hood to his cloak.

Subaru's eyes were on fire. Looking at the man, he felt like he could explode in anger. He screams in rage. "El Minya!" Several shards generate at an alarming rate, and blast at the man with incredible speed. However, this changed nothing. Using his purple hands yet again, the man easily caught and crushed the shards. He launches at Subaru. He gets right up ti his face as he says. "How truly slothful!"

He shows his crooked smile and turns his head as his neck cracks. Hundreds of unseen hands grab Subaru and crush him. Underneath the hands, Subaru struggles to say.

"I-I'll kill you Betelgeuse, just you wait!" The last words that Subaru heard before being crushed to death were. "You... are truly slothful."

Subaru sees himself in the black void again. As the purple hand reaches out to wake him up sometime before the event of his death occurred. He reached out to it, as his vision slowly turned back.

Subaru awakens in the bed with Ram again. He gasps as tears well up in his eyes at the sight of Ram. Shaking enough to wake up Ram, she quickly asks him in a worrisome tone. "Barusu! What's wrong?" Subaru grabs Ram and starts crying into her nightgown. She wraps her arms around him tightly. "Barusu.." she wanted to throw a silly insult at him to try to cheer him up, but now wasn't the time for that.

Getting up once again, Ram looked at Subaru. "We should go get you some clothes today to clear your mind from your pathetic wailing." Subaru scoffs. "Yeah, after that we should return to the mansion though." Ram nods. "Of course."

Exiting their hotel room, noticing Emilia was already in the city, Ram grabs Subaru's hand and walks out to the city. Buying the same cloak, Subaru turns back to Ram. "Let's go back to the mansion now." Subaru tells her. She nods, "Let's go then." Boarding the carriage again, Otto starts taking them to the mansion. Ram sleeps on Subaru underneath the blanket once again. Subaru then passes out with her.

Subaru awakens to Otto. "Mr. Natsuki, we arrived!" Subaru looked up at the entrance immediately upon arrival. Subaru is happy to see that the man and the other Witch Cultists haven't arrived yet. Subaru sighs in relief. "Good. Nothing bad has happened. It was a good idea to come back early though." Ram awoke as well. Responding to Subaru. "See? There was no reason to head back this soon."

Seeing the sun set, he tells her. "I see that it's quite late. We should eat dinner then get some rest." As he says this, Frederica walks out of the mansion, seeing Subaru and Ram. "It's nice to see you three back here. Shall I prepare dinner?" Subaru smiles at her. "Sure!" Subaru turns back and runs to Otto. Subaru dropped a bag of coins in his hand. "Keep the change" Subaru smiles at him as he proceeds inside the mansion. "Thank you !" Otto shouts, smiling to himself.

Sitting down at the dining room, he sees Emilia enter the room shortly after. "Hello, Mili!" Subaru waves at her and tells her to sit. "Hey Subaru!" She smiles at him as they sit down. Emilia starts up a conversation this time. "While I was at capital, I met a person... they were nice, but they acted very strange..." Subaru asked her. "Huh, that's strange. What did they look like?" Emilia starts.

"They were a girl, long blue hair, and they had a strange glowing purple stone thing on their forehead." She points out a spot on her forehead. "Right around here" she said. Ram perks up, looking very confused. "A-a purple stone?" Emilia tilts her head confused. "Yeah, is something the matter?"

Ram hesitated and backed down. "Its nothing, let's discuss this later" Ram was in fear of putting Emilia in danger of her sister, so she decided not to scare her. After having dinner, Ram and Subaru wish each other a good nights rest as he falls into his bed and passes out.

Subaru runs through the walls of the mansion. Beatrice opens a portal and hugs Subaru, falling into another portal with him. Subaru looks down at Beatrice. "We have to keep traversing safely, I suppose!" The two appear at the front of the mansion, noticing that half of the mansion was engulfed in a blue void. "Wh-" Subaru tried speaking but was quickly interrupted seeing a gray sphere emerge from the mansion.

He notices the leaves that were blowing across the wind get engulfed in the sphere, suddenly stopping all movement. The sphere stood alive for a couple of seconds as it degenerates. As soon as the sphere was gone, the leaves began to take movement once again. Suddenly, Ram crashed through the window. A figure chased behind her, through the window. As Subaru looked at the figure, a purple gleam came from their head. Subaru's eyes widen, as he feels something weird from his stomach. A purple hand emerges from him.

"Barusu, wake up already!"

Subaru woke up in a cold sweat once again. This time, he noticed Ram laid above the sheets holding his hand. Calming down, Subaru grabs his stomach. "Ok, ok fine. Wait, why are you by my bed this early in the morning?" Ram smiled at him. "I was just comforting you. Pathetic Barusu." Subaru holds her hand for a little longer before getting up and looking out the window. "The cult hasn't arrived yet.. we should prepare soon.

"Ram, I have a bad feeling that something will happen today, stay on high alert."

"Why?"

"I don't know, it's just a gut feeling."

Subaru doesn't want to tell Ram about the witch cult, seeing if he knew anything about them coming to attack that she would grow suspicious of him.

"If you insist, then I have no choice. Stupid Barusu."

Subaru and Ram sit down together as they start eating their breakfast. Ram gives him small smiles every now and then. Halfway into their meal, Subaru got the cold feeling he did during his last loop. He quickly gets up. "Ram! Emilia! Quick! There's something happening!" Emilia perks up. "Huh?" Ram gets up as well. "It's The Witch Cult!" Subaru then exclaims. "Then hurry up! We have to fight them, right?"

"But wait Barusu! You won't be of much help at all!"

Subaru states his plan "I can use my scent as bait and act friendly towards him, then you attack from behind and we take them out."

"That's a very reckless idea but if it works, I suppose we could do that."

Subaru opens the mansion door and stands out to see the man and his group of cultists approaching the entrance. The man smiled from ear to ear once again. "I've been waiting ever so patiently for you, believer in love! I am a Sin Archbishop of The Witches Cult, representing sloth, Betelgeuse Romanee-Conti. Yes!"

"Hey. I appreciate the unexpected welcome, but I'm not exactly sure if I feel this love you keep bringing up."

"It all happens so suddenly when one finds out that they are in fact loved. They feel it! The love, the love, the love, the love!"

Each time the man said love, he grabbed his head with more force and leant back even more, standing in place. Subaru asks the man. "So, what exactly do you want me to do now?" At the speed of light, he leans back up straight, now at face level with Subaru. "Now tell me, you wouldn't happen to be the one known as pride, would you?"

Subaru looks at him confused. "Huh? Pride?" The man starts. "Out of the six total Sin Archbishops, only the seat of pride remains unclaimed and vacant! You have received a gospel, have you not?"

"Gospel? Huh?"

Betelgeuse reaches into his cloak as he pulls out a small black book. Opening it, he flips through the pages as his eyes follow the text going by. Without a sign of slowing down, he stops very abruptly on a page. Subaru sees Ram and Emilia looking out at a nearby window. Subaru shouts, "Alright, I think I'm done buying time!"

Ram and Emilia jump out and throw attacks at Betelgeuse, however they were grabbed by his unseen hands. Betelgeuse did not even look away from his book. "Ram, Emilia! No!" Betelgeuse looks up from his book into Subaru's eyes, smiling from ear to ear. "So this was the ace up your sleeve?"

Subaru gives an angry expression. "You bastard!" Subaru hears Ram struggle to speak. "Al... Fur-". Before Ram could cast her magic, Betelgeuse crushes them both in an instant as Subaru watches in horror. Blood spurts out of both of the unseen hands, creating a flood on the concrete. Subaru clenches his fists as he feels his body fill with rage. "Damn you Betelgeuse!" Subaru shouts.

Betelgeuse then tries to grab Subaru with his unseen hand, but Subaru quickly dodges it. Betelgeuse's eyes widen to a big extent. "How did you-?!" Betelgeuse summons his men as they close in on Subaru. Looking down at the disturbingly crippled corpses of Emilia and Ram, Subaru gulps his emotions and pride down. He looks down and accepts his fate. As he gets grabbed, having his spine split in half.

Subaru hears Emilia's voice. "Subaru!" she exclaimed. "Huh?" Emilia shouts at him. "I said is it ok if we check into a motel?" Subaru shakes his head.


	11. Chapter 10: The White Whale

"Subaru? Subaru!" His vision unblurs as he hears Emilia's voice. "Huh?" Subaru asks. "Is it okay if we stay at motel for the night?" Subaru remembers the events of his previous loop as his stomach turns.

"I have to change this outcome!" He thinks to himself. Subaru shakes his head. "No. I have a bad feeling something will happen back at the mansion; we have to get back and evacuate the villagers and Beatrice now." Ram looks at Subaru with concern. "What makes you think that?"

"I have a feeling The Witch Cult will arrive soon, and I want to make sure nobody is harmed."

Ram replies. "I suppose I have no choice then." Subaru thinks to himself. "Wow, she's been complying a lot..."

Subaru runs over to Otto, who is sleeping soundly in the carriage. Subaru knocks loudly as Otto jumps up and screams. "O-oh, it's just you Mr. Natsuki" Subaru explains to Otto that they needed to evacuate the villagers and everyone back at the mansion to safety in order to avoid a witch cult attack. "I'll pay you extra!" Subaru smiles.

"Ah- alright then Mr. Natsuki!" Rounding up the three, they hop inside the carriage as Otto starts to drive away from the capital. "We should get to the village around the afternoon Mr. Natsuki!" Otto turns to say. "Thanks again Otto!" Subaru smiled and gave a thumbs up. Otto smirks. "As long as I get to sell my oil then I'm fine taking you guys there!". Ram tugs on Subaru's sleeve. "What made you feel like The Witches Cult would attack Lord Roswaal's mansion?"

"Since Emilia was announced as a candidate, I've just had a bad feeling about this."

"I heard The Witch's Cult will go after silver-haired half elves, so I suppose you do have a good point." Ram replies. She yawns and grabs the blanket from Subaru's luggage. She gets close to him, pulling the blanket over the two as Ram leans against Subaru to get some rest.

Subaru looks down at her with a worrisome face. He strokes his hair. "I don't want to lose you again!" He thinks to himself. Noticing Emilia made herself comfortable in a resting spot, Subaru makes himself comfortable with the maid as he drifts to sleep as well. Otto looks back at them. "Ugh! Everyone gets sleep but me! Life is so unfair!"

With the sun glazing through the light blue sky, Subaru awakens to Otto shaking him. "We have arrived Mr. Natsuki!" He looks at him and smiles. He gets up and pays Otto the bag of coins he promised.

Hopping out of the carriage, the two girls lay asleep still. Subaru asks Otto to help him round up everyone in the village. Soon enough, everyone was around the water fountain where Subaru stood.

"Hello everyone! Sorry to get straight to the point but we need to evacuate all of you to somewhere safe. We have a great suspicion that some people calling themselves The Witch's Cult plan to attack here soon and we want to make sure nobody gets hurt." Worrisome voices start arising through the crowd of villagers. "I knew something like this would happen! It's all because of that silver-haired half elf in the mansion!"

A voice from the crowd calls. Subaru responds. "I know, but we need to evacuate you all as soon as possible to make sure nobody gets hurt or killed." The villagers all speak among themselves until one speaks up. "Let's hurry then!"

Subaru runs over to Otto. "Otto, we're going to need way more carriages than this, do you have any buddies that could lend transportation along with the villagers' carriages?" Otto shouts back from a distance.

"I have some people!" Otto informs the villagers that took care of the carriages to round some up. Grabbing his friends from the village, they prepare the carriages and start lining them up along the pathway, Ottos being the leading carriage.

Subaru stands around, watching them round up the carriages as Ram approaches Subaru from behind. Ram hugs Subaru from behind as his skeleton jumped out of his body. "Jeez, it's just me. Stupid Barusu." Subaru sighs in relief as he says, "Sorry, I'm a little on edge, and good morning Ram" he smiles at her.

Ram makes a pouty face as she grabs his hand and brings him over to the carriage. "What is it?" Subaru asks as Ram goes inside of the carriage and comes out, revealing the cloak. "I bought this for you at the capital while you were making arrangements with Otto.."

Subaru looked down at the black and orange coat with a pained expression on his face. He grabs it and clenches it tight to his body. With tears welling up in his eyes, he looks at Ram. "Thank you..." Subaru had flashbacks of Ram happily looking at Subaru wearing the cloak. She must have thought it looked good on him. Ram sees his reaction and asks. "What's wrong Barusu? It's just a stupid cloak."

Subaru's tears escape his eyes as he embraces her. Ram being confused, didn't stop Subaru from doing this. Subaru pulls away as he puts on the cloak, pulling the hood above his head. "I have to go get Beako out of the mansion..." Subaru says. Ram nods. "Don't aggravate her this time, Barusu." Subaru runs towards the path to the mansion. Looking at the sky, very dark and stormy clouds linger above the mansion. "Its going to be rainy today huh?"

Arriving at the mansion, Subaru chooses the random door his gut told him to go with, and unsurprisingly he ends up at the forbidden library. "Yo, Beako. I need you to leave here." Subaru scratches his cheek, expecting a question as a response. "And why should I do that, I suppose?" Subaru rolls his eyes.

"The Witch Cult is coming, and I don't want you killed." Beatrice squints her eyes. "And how do you know, I suppose?!" Subaru's eyes widen, catching himself with his own mistake. He backs himself up, "I don't know for certain so it's just a gut feeling."

"I am more than capable of protecting myself I suppose! However, our contract must have me come with you." Beatrice says in response. Subaru leads her out of the library. "Let's go then, I suppose!" He mocks Beatrice as she pouts saying "hm!" In response.

Arriving back at the village after getting a good night's sleep, Otto waves from the group of carriages that are fashionably lined up. "Mr. Natsuki! You're back! I've gotten more carriages which should be able to carry everyone, let's go!" Subaru takes a deep breath. "Alright everyone! It's time!" The wind gets heavy as Subaru pulls his hood down, letting the wind blow on his hair. The group of villagers look up at the dark clouds surrounding them above. "Everyone board onto the carriages!"

Subaru holds his fist up as the villagers quickly enter the carriages in groups. Subaru signals Ram and Beatrice to come with them as they board Otto's carriage. Emilia yawns, awakening. "Subaru? What's going on?" Subaru looked at her in disbelief. "You just woke up?!" Otto boards onto the carriage, looking at Subaru to announce their depart. "I'll explain it to you later, Mili, but for now, good morning" Subaru stands at the top step of the back of the Carriage.

Putting up his fist again, Subaru announces loudly to the villagers. "We are making our departure! Carriage drivers! Ready up!" Subaru climbs back into the carriage as Otto nods at Subaru with a smirk. "I just hope we won't meet the cult on our way out of here..." Subaru thinks to himself. Otto whips the land dragon to drive forward into the dark, cloudy day.

Ram peeks out of the carriage upon the couple of seconds they started departing. Ram looks over at Subaru. "Barusu, the villagers seem uneasy about leaving." Subaru cheerfully says "Hey, don't worry! If the worst happens Beako over here will keep us safe!" Beatrice looks over at Subaru and pouts. "And why should I do that I suppose?" The 4 talk amongst themselves for a while.

Otto looks back at Subaru saying "We are out of the Mathers domain!" After about 20 minutes of riding in the carriage, Subaru is kicking back, relaxing on Ram's lap. "Finally, we made it away!" He thinks to himself. Ram looks down at Subaru. "Barusu, you look cute in that cloak I bought you!" Ram says, putting the emphasis on 'I'. Subaru looks at her with a mad look on his face, all the while blushing.

"If you like the cloak so much how about you marry it?" Everyone hears thunder in the distance. "Make sure you guys take cover in there!" Otto looks back at Subaru. He nods in response. Subaru peeks out of the back of the carriage, admiring the dark sky. "I always loved stormy days" Subaru thinks to himself. Suddenly, they get engulfed in white fog. Subaru's nerves kick back in as his eyes widen. "Huh? What's happening?!"

"This isn't good. Barusu, get down!" Ram was looking out of the carriage through the provided windows with a stern look on her face. Subaru looks over at Ram. "Huh?" Beatrice gets up with no sign of fear or concern on her face. "It seems that the White Whale is here, I suppose." Subaru asks, "The White Whale?"

"It's one of the three great mabeasts created by the witch. Now isn't the time to be talking though I suppose."

"This isn't good. Beako, think you could hold it off?"

Beatrice scoffs. "Absolutely not, I suppose! That thing killed the previous Master Swordsman like it was nothing!" Subaru looks up at the fog in disbelief. He sweats as he feels the fog get increasingly denser and more humid. "Damn, I can't see anything. "Villagers? Are you okay?!"

His call comes to no response. He pulls out his phone and turns on the flashlight, pointing it from behind the carriage. Suddenly, he sees a massive eye. With a dark yellow iris, and a pitch-black pupil, it looks down at Subaru, shrinking to focus its vision on him. "Th- THE WHITE-"

He was interrupted by Ram shouting. "Al Fura!" unleashing a devastating gust of wind that seemingly pushes the White Whale back, giving them a few seconds to get ahead of it. "Barusu, stay down! We've lost our Divine Protection of Wind Break!"

"Divine Protection of Wind Break?"

"It's a Divine Protection that allows land dragons to bypass the effects of wind! But what's the point of talking about it now when it's no use!"

"So that's why the carriage started jumping up and down suddenly..." Subaru says to himself. He hears carriages behind him. He peeks up, as he can see carriages in the fog. Hearing a deep roar, fog was blasted toward the carriages behind them. "Huh? Where did the other carriages go?" Ram responds. "They must have fled." Subaru puts his face into his hand in stress. "Why did this have to happen now?!" Ram responds. "That doesn't matter. It's here, and we have to deal with it."

Beatrice peeks out of the back of the carriage and sends a round of ice shards made of mana to the whale. The whale tracked back, giving them a few seconds to get ahead of it. However, they are no match for the speed of the monster. Ram turns to Subaru once again. "Barusu, I don't think we will be able to outrun it!"

"Just when things were going good..." Subaru thought to himself. Subaru checks his cellphone and sees that the time is 22:42. He thinks that this may come of some use eventually so he tries to remember it as hard as he can. "2242, 2242, 2242" he repeats to himself as Ram interrupts. "Barusu, what's that strange device?" Subaru quickly responds, "It's a bit of future technology called a cellphone." Beatrice points at it.

"That's a very strange device I suppose." Subaru yells back at them. "Nows not the time to talk about this!" Subaru peeks out of the back of the carrige again, and sees the whale tracking behind them, catching up to them at a disturbing and alarming pace. Subaru looks down in defeat. "No.. I've failed.." Subaru looks back at Ram, who gives him a worried look.

Subaru quickly runs over to her and holds her close to his face. She blushes. "Ram... even if this infinite loop brings me much pain... I promise... I WILL SAVE YOU!" Ram looks at him nervously confused. He doesn't care anymore, as he pulls in to kiss her. Their lips make contact as Ram's eyes widen. The white whale finally catches up to the carrige as white fog overtakes everyone. Subaru sees Ram's widened eyes as his vision faded to white. "I promise..."

"Is it fine if we stay at a motel for the night?"

Subaru stands there in a dazed state. He looks up at Emilia thinking for a little. "Subaru are you okay?"

"What can I do to make this outcome change? Think back... think back!" Subaru remembers Reinhard's and Julius' faces, as Subaru feels a wake of hope. "Can we go to the guard station actually? I have to talk to Julius or Reinhard about something." Subaru tells Emilia. Ram looks back at Subaru "What for?" Subaru sighs, having heard that too many times. "Don't worry about it." Emilia thinks for a minute as she says, "I guess we can go there then."

They head to the guard station with Otto's assistance. With the relievingly short ride, Subaru hops off of the carrige. "Thanks for all your help Otto!" Otto waves back at him with a smile. "No problem! If I get to sell my oil I bought out of season, I see this as a win!"

"Again, hah" Subaru thought to himself.

They arrive at the guard station and Subaru asks one of the people guarding the place if he can speak to Julius. The person agreed to Subarus request, seeing it was urgent. Julius approaches the group as he asks. "What did you need me for, Mister Natsuki?"

Subaru bows down to him as Subaru starts. "I need your help! In 2 days, the Witch Cult will attack Roswaal's domain, and I need a lot of people to help stop that!" He sweats a little, knowing the response he was about to receive. "The Witch Cult you say? How exactly do you know that they will attack then?"

"I got an anonymous tip from someone. I can't verify if it's authentic, but I have to take this seriously. Also, I have a device that tells me when and where the White Whale will next appear. It seems that next time is tomorrow at 22:42" Julius' expression turns stern. "We will need to get far more people if we want to take on the White Whale." Subaru responds. "I know, but what about Reinhard? I heard he had incredible strength."

"Unfortunately, Reinhard is out for business purposes for a while. He did not specify when he would return."

"Do you think you could get enough people to take on that beast?"

"I will certainly try to. Thank you for the information." Julius smiles. Subaru felt relieved. He was able to get some of the strongest people in the country to help fend off this white whale. "By the way, where are you located so I can contact you when or if I am able to get some help?" Julius asks Subaru.

"I'm not entirely sure if I should go back to Roswaal's mansion or stay in a motel." Julius nods. "I believe you should stay somewhere close, try doing the motel so I can contact you with any updates." Subaru nods with a determined look in his face "Alright!"

Subaru turn to Ram and Emilia as Julius walked away. "Good news! I think we've gotten the help of Julius and he's planning to get far more people to help fight this cult." Emilia says cheerfully, "That's good to hear! Should we go to a motel for the night?" Subaru nods. "Let's do it." With that, the three head to the motel they originally stayed at in Subaru's previous loops.

Ram and Subaru have a chat for a while until they hear a knock on the door. "Huh?". Hearing a voice from behind the door speak. "It's Julius. I would like to update you!" Subaru opens the door and lets Julius inside and sit at the small table in the motel. Ram bows down as she says "I'll prepare some tea" Julius responds happily. "I love some late-night tea!"

After taking a couple sips of their tea, Julius starts. "I've managed to get the help of several other royal guards and the iron fang. We will attack at 22:42 tomorrow you said?" Subaru looks at him. "The iron fang?" Julius starts. "The iron fang is the mercenary team of the Hoshin company."

"I see. Hopefully we can knock out that beast and the Witch's Cult!"

"I hope so too."

Finishing up their tea, Julius gets up. "Alright Mr. Subaru Natsuki, I'll be off to prepare for the fight. Thanks to you, we might be able to defeat the white whale! Get some rest my friend." Julius says with a smirk. Subaru looks back at him with a determined look on his face once again. "Alright!" Julius exits the room. Subaru changes to his nightwear in the bathroom as he steps into bed.

"Goodnight Ram!" Subaru says as he faces the wall. Subaru couldn't get an inch of sleep however. "Damn it... I'm getting that feeling of being a kid the day before a field trip" He says to himself, complaining. "May Ram assist you with that?" Ram says, climbing into Subarus bed. She holds him and strokes his hair. "Perfect" Subaru relaxes and passes out quickly.

Subaru awakens the next morning to a knocking at the door. He groggily wakes up. Opening the door, an old man with a formal uniform appears behind the door. "Hello, are you Mr. Subaru Natsuki?"


	12. Chapter 11: Wilhelm Van Astrea

"Are you the one named Mr. Subaru Natsuki?" Subaru rubs his eyes as he groggily responds. "Yep, who are you?". Noticing the man had a sword on his waist, he gently wraps his hand around the grip of the sword. "I am Wilhelm Van Astrea, the sword demon. you're the one organizing the White Whale fight, is that correct?"

The man said with determination in his voice. Subaru noticed he must have been wanting this for a long time. Subaru nods and responds. "Yes, so you're fighting with us?" Wilhelm looked into Subaru's eyes. "I must thank you. You have my deepest respect equal to which I give my lady Duchess Crusch Karsten." Wilhelm proceeds to bow down at Subaru. Subaru looked down at the man, confused.

"Huh?! I didn't do anything!" Coming back to his feet, Wilhelm smiles. "Thanks to you this old man will have the opportunity to slay the loathsome mabeast that took my wife." Subaru suddenly felt pity for this man. "You are very welcome, I hope we can take vengeance today!" Wilhelm looks down at his pocket watch. "If what you're saying is correct and it arrives at 15:42-18:42 , then we do not have much time. We have to get going now." Subaru nods.

"I will be there!" Subaru looks at the man with a determined face. "Me and Julius will be at the guard station, come meet us there and we shall go to battle." Wilhelm starts walking away as Subaru felt his hand gently being grabbed.

Turning around while closing the door, he sees Ram. "Barusu, I heard that the White Whale is a massive mabeast.. massive is an understatement. I think colossal fits more. Why would you put yourself in such danger." Subaru smiles and turns around, holding Ram's hand. "Don't worry, if you're so worried then come with me!" Ram sighs, rolling her eyes. "I guess I have no choice then. Just incase this is your.. I mean our deathbed, can we spend an hour together at the city?" Subaru checks his clock on his phone, away from Ram's view. He looks back at her with a smile. "Sure!"

Heading to the city, not much different happened from the first time they spent the day at the city. Ram bought Subaru the same cloak, and Beatrice appeared. "And why take such a risk, I suppose?" Beatrice asked this after hearing that Subaru was going to battle the legendary mabeast. "I'm not going alone Beako, I have people I'm going with of course."

Julius, Ram, Wilhelm, and more people I have not met yet." Beatrice pouts hearing his response. "I have no other choice but to come with you to ensure you are protected, I suppose." Subaru's face washes over with a worried look. "I don't want you to die with-" Beatrice interrupts Subaru.

"Our contract says otherwise, I will protect you until my wits end, Hmph I suppose!" Subaru rolls his eyes as Ram laughs. "Fine Beako.. Thank you" Beatrice flips her hair, looking away from him and Ram. "Its our contract to thank, not me I suppose"

Subaru remembers learning magic with Beatrice right around his first loop in the city. He thinks to himself as he remembers sneaking through the forbidden library around the time they got attacked at the mansion in the afternoon. He looks up with a glimmer of hope. "I can learn a new move!" He thinks to himself, trying to remember what was in those books he read about. Subaru turns to Beatrice.

"Yo Beako, do you happen to know anything about Murak?" Beatrice looked at Subaru with slight surprise in her face. "And where have you heard of Murak, I suppose?" Subaru responds. "I've heard it being said by someone a while back." Beatrice, although having questions, proceeds to explain to Subaru. "Murak is a spell that reduces gravity, I suppose. The effect can be used on yourself, people or things, or both you and the people. Jumping lightly would end up with you having some decent air time, I suppose." Subaru's eyes widen. "Can you teach this spell to me?"

Beatrice scoffs. "It may take you a couple of tries, but I will I suppose. However, if you get blown by any wind, the force of the wind will carry you away." Beatrice teachers Subaru how to apply the spell to himself and to surrounding objects. "I suggest you try this out in a big field, I don't want you landing to your demise or crashing into something I suppose." Subaru rolls his eyes. "Thank you Beako." A carriage pulls up in front of the three.

"Mr. Natsuki, I've been looking for you everywhere! Lets go! Its about time for you to go to the guard station!" Subaru gets up, as well as Ram. "Lets go everyone!" They enter the carriage as Otto proceeds toward the guard station.

"Barusu, I want to see you in the cloak! Put it on please!" Ram tells Subaru. Subaru pulls the cloak out of his bag that Ram put it in. He looks down at it with a small shed of sadness. "I dont want this to be the last thing that comes with me on my death bed again.." Subaru thinks to himself. His faces washes with determination as he puts it on. "Wow Barusu! You look really cute in that!" Ram says with a smirk.

"Then why don't you marry the cloak?!" Subaru exclaims. Ram and Otto share a laugh. Arriving at the guard station, Subaru pays Otto as he jumps out of the carriage with Beatrice and Ram. "Thank you Mr. Natsuki! Good luck please!" Otto waves at him as he disappears into the building. Walking in, Subaru finds Wilhelm and Julius, awaiting his arrival. "Hello Mr. Subaru Natsuki." Wilhelm states. "We have a carriage that will take us to the Mathers domain, lets go!" Julius states, as he leads the group. Entering another carriage, the five of them start going to the Mathers domain.

Subaru sighs deeply, having to take this long trip for the fourth time. "When will we arrive at the Mather's domain?" Ram responds. "Around 16:10." Beatrice smirks at Subaru's sigh. "Getting carriage-sick, I suppose?" Subaru rolls his eyes in ignorance of Beatrice.

"Jeez, so we'll barely get there." Subaru says as he hears something trailing behind them. Looking out from the back, he sees multiple carriages. Subaru asks Julius, "Who are they?" Julius responds. "Those carriages contain knights and supplies." Subaru looks at him with surprise. "Wow, you really reached out to a lot of people for this. I just hope they'll help us in defeating the Witch Cult and the White Whale!" Ram tugs Subaru's cloak as she pouts. "For now let's just worry about the White Whale stupid Barusu." Subaru smiles at her.

Arriving at the Mathers domain, they stop in the middle of the field, where they see a couple of people caring to land dragons, horses, and more. Subaru gets out of the carriage, along with the other knights from the other carriages. They quickly start preparing as Subaru approaches Julius.

"You will be taking that black and tan land dragon over there." Julius points out a land dragon in the group of them. Walking out to the land dragon, Subaru pet it gently. The land dragon seemed to be enjoying Subaru's petting. Beatrice pouts. "Stop fooling around I suppose!"

Subaru squints his eyes as he mounts the land dragon. Ram follows suit as she gets on behind Subaru. "Expected" he thought. Beatrice mounts the land dragon as well. "Beako, is this too much weight for the dragon to handle?" Beatrice immediately gets upset. "Betty is not that heavy, I suppose. You should know this!" She slaps Subaru lightly as he pretends to take pain.

"Don't mock me again or else ill make that non-fictional pain into fiction I suppose!" She smirks evilly as Subaru responds. "Y-yes Beako- I MEAN ma'am." Subaru feels Ram's arms wrap around him. Subaru takes this moment to pull up his hood from his cloak. "Yes! I feel like a total badass right now!"

The sun slowly hits the horizon as Subaru looks behind them to see dark clouds emerging from the direction the mansion is in. Subaru looks down at his phone as he reads the time. "What is that thing anyways?" Subaru hears Ram ask, inches away from his ear. "U-uh.. "It's a device that I set to make noise when the White Whale will next appear. It should be here any minute now...".

The time read 16:20. Subaru remembers the clouds coming in around the time the white whale did. He was assured. Looking over at Wilhelm, he rides his land dragon over to him. Wilhelm stands on the grass, looking at the beautiful flowers that lay across the grass.

"Oh, hello Mr. Subaru Natsuki. I see you have your friends accompanying you on the land dragon. However, do you think three people is to much for it to handle?" Beatrice shows an obvious pout on her face, but decides to hold back from saying anything surprisingly. "Nah, Beako here is as light as a feather, anyone can pick her up!" Beatrice finally shouts. "Quit talking about my weight and height I suppose!" The sun slowly begins to get engulfed by the horizon.

"Anyways, what are you doing here Wilhelm?" Subaru asks him. Wilhelm slowly blinks, gazing down at the flowers. "I'm remembering my wife.. flowers were her favorite thing.." Wilhelm says with a great pain in his voice. Subaru falls silent for a moment. "I'm very sorry to hear Wilhelm.." He looks back at Subaru.

"Don't be sorry about anything, I'm taking a look at what I'm fighting for.. For who I'm fighting for. You gave me this opportunity, to take vengeance for my wife. This monster, a creation from the evil witches themselves, took my wife.. She had nothing to do with them and they took her from me. With this opportunity that you are giving us, I can finally send the thing that killed my wife away to the deepest depths of hell itself. Thank you Mr. Subaru Natsuki"

Wilhelm fell on one knee toward Subaru. Subaru was speechless, as they watch the sun finally set, as the dark clouds quickly overtook them. With thunder clapping, Subaru looked up at him with fire in his eyes. "Let's send that whale where it belongs!" He shouts as Wilhelm looks back at him with the same determination. "Get going back to the formation now" Wilhelm says.

Subaru returns to the knights who were lined up in a neatly fashion. Julius rides over to the three. "Subaru. When will this 'alarm' go off?" Subaru pulls out his phone and looks down. "Any minute now." He responds. Julius nods. "Good luck Mr. Natsuki" He says with pride in his voice as he returns to the front of the group.

Subaru starts sweating. "This situation I'm in really makes me nervous.. I-I don't want to die with friendships like these!" Subaru thinks to himself as Ram hugs him closer to her. "Don't worry stupid Barusu, Ram is here to help and protect you!" Beatrice peeks from behind as she says in anger. "Don't forget me too, I suppose!" Subaru smiles as he looks up at the moonlight barely peeking through the thick dark clouds.

With fire in his eyes, he thinks to himself yet again. "With these two.. No, with everyone, I can do this!" He lowers his hands to meet Ram's, but he gets interrupted. Hearing the ice cream truck-like music coming from his cell phone in an 8bit and off tune tone, he looks down at his phone. Hearing everyone tense up around him, they stand around in silence for a little. Subaru breaks the silence. "Huh? Where is it?"

Ram squeezes him tightly. "Is it not coming? Stupid Barusu." One of the knights call out from the group. "Look! Up there!" Hearing a very distant yet disturbing noise of cries of the whale, the dark clouds start revolving. "I-is a tornado forming?!" Subaru exclaims as he finds out his question turned out to be false. In the matter of seconds, the clouds push away in a circle form, as the moonlight breaks through.

Flying high above the night sky, was the White Whale itself. A purple halo-like ring stood above the creature while flying around. Hearing the cry more clearly, it rocked everyone's ears. As soon as silence broke out, Subaru exclaimed as loud as he could "LET HIM HAVE IT!" Everyone from the crowd erupts with war screams.

All the land dragons start charging forward. Subaru looks back at Ram. "Are mabeasts attracted to the witch's scent?" Beatrice peeks out from behind. "Yes, I suppose!" Subaru nods as he announces. "Hey everyone! Apparently my scent draws this beast to me, so should we go somewhere more suitable for battle?" Ram points over at the colossal tree that Subaru swore he has never seen before. "Go to Flugel's tree."

"Flugel's tree?"

"Legend has it that a wise man planted it 400 years ago."

"Well lets go then!" He rides the land dragon quickly over to the tree as he looks up at it. "Damn, this thing is huge!" He exclaims. His cloak blew in the wind that came from the running dragon. He notices knights trail around him, following his lead. "Alright. Let's slay this thing everyone!"

"Finally! Ul Fura!" Ram shoots a huge wind attack at the beast.

It accurately hit it near its nose. Blood rained from the sky. Subaru's eyebrows raise. "Wow, that looked pretty effective." Subaru started to notice that the white whale was flying down to the ground. It didn't seem to be going after them or the separated groups, however. It was going for one person who was casually standing in the middle of the field.

"You're nothing but a monster!"

The white whale comes hurdling toward him. As he breathes in, he has small flashbacks of his wife, and the devastation that hit him when he had lost her to the monster. As he glares back at the beast, there was no fear in him, only rage. He raises his sword as he screams. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Jumping onto the whale, the swordsman cut through his skin at incredible speed. Traversing through the whale's body within seconds. As the whale was going back into the sky, it cried out, squirming its body trying to shake him off.

"Don't you look away from us moroooon!"

The man slashes hard into the beast's face, again making it loose a lot of blood, but it still hasn't lost any strength at all. Then, several knights who are riding on what appear to be wolves then jump from their mounts to the whale. They attack the whale as Wilhelm sees his land dragon, jumping down to it and landing.

Meanwhile, Julius stands with his group on their mounts. Pointing his sword up at the beast, he shouts "Al Clarista!" The swords glows as it shoots a massive light beam, hitting the beast. This seemed to be very effective in weakening it, and seems to push it back quite a bit.

Wilhelm then launches onto the beast's face and slashes right around it's left eye, cutting it off and making it fall to the ground. A huge splat was heard across the field as Subaru looked in disgust. Suddenly, it's right eye turns dark red. "Uhhhh, is that normal?" Subaru points as the whale lets out a long lasting screech. Everyone covers their ears.

Wilhelm quickly jumps off of it, as white fog emits from the beast. Subaru looks up at the fog with fear. Remembering the promise he made to Ram, who unfortunately is unaware. The fog quickly reaches ground level, engulfing his vision. The fog did not last long, however. As it quickly faded away, he saw some knights from his group missing.

"Where did our knights go?" He turns to Ram and Beatrice. Thankfully they were unaffected. "What knights?" Ram asks as Beatrice squints her eyes. "Dont worry, its just an effect of the White Whale's fog I suppose." Subaru leaves his questions for later.

"How many soldiers were lost?!" Julius exclaims, as Wilhelm lands in front of him. "It seems that a total of 18 have been lost, however I am not sure as to which ones they were." Julius then uses his sword to cut through and get rid of a lot of the fog, making the mabeast more visible.

"We should separate, staying together is the worst thing we can do right now!" Subaru exclaims to the remaining knights that stood beside them. The soldiers separate into smaller groups making it harder for the White Whale to kill nor target them in groups. Suddenly, the beast lets out another high-pitched screech, this time however, its way louder. It makes Subaru and Ram have to cover their ears hard and it makes several others start screaming out of agony. Subaru shakes Ram.

"Snap out of it Ram!" Ram shakes her head. "It would appear that the fog is attacking our minds in a way similar to mana sickness however much worse." Subaru sees a man from his group screaming. He then sees someone with cat ears approach them and almost instantly heal them. "Seems like healing magic can fix it. Wow, magic is incredible." Subaru thinks back to all of the magic he figured out about. He remembers his conversation with Ram, and the same day, his attempt at telling Ram return by death.

She noted that his stink got even worse according to Rem, meaning that the witch's scent amplifies whenever he tries to tell somebody about return by death. Subaru's eyes widen. Quickly turning back, he shouts. "Everybody! Cover your ears!" The knights before him do so. As he looked up at the beast, he starts. "I can use, return by death to-"

Subaru froze along with the entire world. Being engulfed in the purple clouds, Subaru sees the purple hand approach his heart and again strokes across it. Subaru catches his breath as he winks his eye. "And now I'm back! So, do I stink now?" Beatrice covering her nose, says. "You smell horrible, I suppose." Subaru gets slightly frustrated. "Now's not the time to make jokes! We have to attract that beast to us!" Subaru looks back up but the beast isn't there.

Suddenly, he sees the White Whale up extremely close on their left, similar to what happened in the last loop. Wilhelm then comes out nowhere and jumps onto the whale, stabbing it with incredible pressure, however it doesn't seem to be very effective. "El Fura!" The gust of wind hit the beast. Being more close ranged however, it seemed to have no effect on it. "Ul Fura!" Ram sends a different yet bigger gust of wind that pushes the beast back a little. They use this chance to distance themselves from the beast as Whilhelm is attacking it.

A demi-human riding on a similar looking wolf to what the other people had earlier then starts slashing through the beast along with Wilhelm while riding at incredible speed. Subaru looks back while seeing the beast extremely close behind them. He fears that he will have to redo this again, however Wilhelm stabs the whale again with great force while giving a war cry, seemingly slowing it down and giving the group time to get away from it.

The beast then flies into the sky again as it squirms, knocking Whilhelm off. "Just one last thing before I take my leave!" He yells, having fire in his eyes. He then uses his sword to slash its tail off, then his dragon amazingly catches him again. Having landed next to Subaru's group, he shouts. "Wilhelm!" Wilhelm straightens his seating position as he responds. "Be alert. We don't know where it will come from."

Ram, Subaru, Beatrice and Wilhelm all then run forwards on their land dragons. Suddenly, an ocean of white fog surrounded them. Subaru's nerves kick in again as Wilhelm is suddenly pushed back. Looking up, he was right in front of the whale. Beatrice uses her magic to push him out of the way before getting eaten. Subaru screamed at him. "Watch out!" Wilhelm smiles. "Thank you for saving this old man." The fog once again started clearing up. Ram nervously held Subaru tight while looking into the sky. "It multiplied!"

"Huh?"

To his demise, Subaru looked up at the gleaming night sky to see not two but three white whales flying around. His eyes widen with worry. "This isn't good!"


	13. Chapter 12: Theresia Van Astrea's Requiem

The three whales fly through the night sky. Looking up, Subaru's eyes widen. "Huh? How did it-?!" He was interrupted by Ram casting her spell. "El Fura!" Shooting the gust of wind at one of the whales. With the attack hitting the whale, it cried as waves of blood rain. "It seems that it's now weaker now that it's split up?" Subaru gets blood on his face, as he acted as an umbrella for Ram and Beatrice. Both of them smirk and scoff. Subaru's face turns red as he looks away from them embarrassed.

"Al Clarista!" Julius casts his magic as his sword shoots multiple beams of light at same whale Ram hit. The whale rained more blood after taking the hit. Subaru was sure it had gotten weaker this time considering that it split to three. Subaru turns back to the knights with him. Raising his fist, he yells. "We can't give up now! We've gone way too far to even consider it!". The knights, even though fear was engraved in them, still shouted with a cheer.

Ram holds Subaru close to her and rests her chin on his shoulder. Subaru smiles while blushing. Julius rides up to him. "I would agree however how do you think we will kill all three of them?" Subaru seeing the whale they attacked still spurting out with blood, he says. "Looking at Ram's wind magic and your magic it seems that it has became weaker." Julius nods. "I can tell, but what good will that do when we have to kill all three of them?" Subaru examines the whales. He notices however that one of them is extremely high in the air, staying a noticeable distance from the other whales fighting the knights.

"I think I have an idea. Look up. That one has to be the original one, it's all the way up there while it's two doubles are doing all the fighting for him. If we can take that one out, I think it would take all the other two out as well." Subaru looks back down at Julius as he shows a confused look on his face. "And how do you intend to get that thing down here?" Subaru nods as he dismounts from his land dragon and grabs Beatrice's hand.

She squints her eyes as she dismounts. Subaru walks a short distance to get some room as he looks up and then back down at Beatrice. Knowing what his plans were, she responds. "Fine, I suppose."

Subaru looks over at Ram. "Ram, can you use your wind magic to send me far up into the air?" Ram rolls her eyes at his statement. Knowing the effects of the wind magic, she responds. "That's far too reckless of an idea, even for you Barusu." Subaru rolls his eyes. Looking over to Julius, and states his plan.

"If I amplify my witch's scent while on that beast then jump off, it would then follow me down. Once it's low enough, you guys knock down Flugel's Tree in it's direction. If all goes according to plan and the tree falls down on the whale, it would almost certainly die." Julius takes surprise as he responds "That's an insane idea." Subaru sharply states, "Hey, we're already insane for taking on it in the first place! What's a little more crazy going to do?" Subaru says.

He looks over to Ram and yells in his head, "Murak!" Subaru feels lighter as Beatrice applies the same effect to herself. "Hey Ram, want me to tell everyone what you did last ni-" Before Subaru could even finish his sentence Ram yells "EL FURA!" Sending Subaru and Beatrice flying into the sky with incredible speed. Subaru and Beatrice share a small chuckle as they fly through the sky.

* * *

"We are getting close, I suppose!" Beatrice tells Subaru as they get close to approaching the white whale that is highest. Beatrice applies a heavy effect on the two as they safely land on the whale's back. "Hey, big guy! Now that I see you up close, you really are a creepy, weird looking thing." Subaru pats it on the back as it looks up at him with red eyes. "Try to keep up with me, and in case you hadn't heard, I'm infamous for being so annoying that it's impossible for anyone to ignore me! Okay, let's get this started!"

Beatrice sends a couple mana shards toward its eye, hitting it. The whale cries as Subaru jumps off, facing up at it while Beatrice follows suit. "I'm doing you a huge favor okay? So listen up! It's because of you that I, Ram, and Beako die-!" Subaru sees the familiar clouds of darkness engulfing him again, he's relieved that what he said actually worked. "Yes! It activated! I achieved it!" He thinks to himself as everything fades back to normal.

The whale cried once again as it follow's Subaru down. Beatrice covers her nose falling above him. "I should have been the one to jump off first, I suppose. Now I have to deal with this stentch!" Subaru rolls his eyes. "Can you at least cut me some slack?" They continue to bring the white whale down with them.

Subaru looks down seeing Julius as they get closer to ground level. Subaru screams, "Julius, now!" Julius points his sword at the whale. "Al Clarista!" Julius sends the beam at the whale once again, dealing a lot of blood pouring from the whale. Beatrice flies down to Subaru as they fall at an alarming rate of speed. Hugging Subaru, she yells. "Murak!" They lighten their landing, but it was no use. The land dragon catches them at an insane speed. Subaru opens his eyes to see Ram holding him on her lap.

Subaru blushes. "Thanks" He says. Ram squints her eyes. "Pervert". Beatrice mounts the back of the land dragon, behind Ram. Subaru sits up and takes control of it again as he rides toward the colossal tree. Julius prepares himself by the tree with his men. "Its time, this will be the final blow toward that monster, and we will finally win this long awaited battle!" He raises his sword as the men cheer.

Subaru has his cloak wrapped around him by Ram once again. He looks back at her, both smiling. Subaru charges straight ahead as he looks at Julius as he nods with a smirk. "FIRE!" Julius exclaims. Several explosions are sent at Flugel's Tree all at once, crashing down slowly in the direction the whale was in. The whale was too late to stop, as the tree crushes the whale's body, instantly making it immobile. It lets out a screech once again, but it quickly stops, seeing it run out of energy.

* * *

The land dragon stops in its tracks, as Subaru's eyes widen. "D-did we win?"

Ram says in his ear. "Don't say that, you'll jinx it stupid Barusu!" The whale releases some white fog as its final resort, but it quickly subsided as it let out a long groan of despair.

The men in groups erupt in cheer, lasting for minutes. The heavy clouds of darkness vanish, showing the sun slowly rising from the horizon. Subaru, Beatrice, and Ram dismount the land dragon as they stare at the sun setting. Ram embraces Subaru. "Barusu, the stupid and useless hero!" She smirks, blushing while holding him close to her face. Beatrice face washes with disgust as she turns away, saying "Hmph! wheres my praise I suppose?" Subaru hears the loli as he walks up to her. "Good job Beako!" He says with a smile. He picks her up as she exclaims. "What are you doing, I suppose?!" He starts spinning with her lifted up as she continues yelling at Subaru. Ram smiles at the scene.

Wilhelm slowly walks up to the beast who is barely alive. The beast focuses on Wilhelm as it growls at his presence. "What I do now is for my wife, Theresia Van Astrea!" Looking into the sunrise, he has flashbacks of her. "I met her during sunrise. She was beautiful. She had red hair, and we shared moments together. She loved flowers... After being married for years, I received news during sunset that she had died due to the White whale.." Wilhelm once again, pictures her once last time as he finally looks over to the whale with hellfire in his eyes.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Wilhelm gives his final rage-filled cry as he dashes toward the White whale with incredible speed. Cutting through the upper half of his body, split against the tree, it cried out once again. After that, Wilhelm landed in front of its eye. Looking up at it one more time, he says. "The last thing my wife saw was you before she took her fate.. Now, the last thing that you will see before your death, is the husband of the woman you murdered! NOW REST FOR ETERNITY!"

He screams, as he slices the whale's eye in half. Parts of the eye spill out along with blood as the white whale takes its final scream. The sun pierces through the horizon as the whale stopped any sign of movement. After 400 years of terror and murders, the white whale finally perished.

The other two white whales in the sky fade away, as Wilhelm walks in front of the beast, staring at the sunrise. Yellow flowers start blooming around the beasts body. With his sword raised into the air, glimmering from the distance, he states. "Finally. It is finished, at last. Theresia, I can say it. My dear, I LOVE YOU, FOREVER!" His eyes water up with joy.

Sitting on the grass as the breeze slowly soothes them, Subaru looks over to Ram. "Well Ram, it looks like we have won." He smiles as she leans her head on his shoulder. "Indeed, even though you barely did anything." She smirks at him, obviously being sarcastic. Julius dismounts his land dragon as he approaches Subaru. "It seems I must thank you, Subaru Natsuki. For putting an end to what seemed like an unstoppable calamity."

He falls on one knee again. "I didn't really do anyth- I mean you're welcome." Subaru smiles at him. He stands up as Ram does. "Barusu, what now?" Subaru remembers the witch's cult. His relaxation washes over with a chill. He was too relieved to remember that they still had to take care of the witch's cult. "I believe we don't have much time left before the Witch's Cult arrives at the Mathers domain, should we head now?" Julius steps into the conversation with an honored look on his face. "Do you need assistance with that?" Subaru looks at him with a determined look "You bet I do!"

Wilhelm then steps in as well. "Then why not make use of this old man before you? Subaru Natsuki sir, you have my deepest gratitude, it was because of you and your plan that I was able to take part in this subjection and carry out my reason for living all this time. I thank you, from the bottom of my heart." Wilhelm kneels and bows his head at him. "Actually, it was people like you and Julius who made this possible. Without you two here, we wouldn't have taken that beast down." Subaru smiles and gives a thumbs up. Wilhelm and Julius then stand up and nod to Subaru. "Let's gather everyone up then".

"Brrrrringdingdingdingdingdingdiiiiinggg" Rem approaches a small group of children, her sliced horn throbbing. "Why is she making funny noises?" One of the kids asks from the group. "Yes! This will do perfectly my friend! Thank you my dear!" Snatching the hairbrush from the kid, she walks away happily as the kid smirks. Behind her, mabeasts emerge, as Rem looks back. She rolls her eyes, "Crap! You're done now!" Says one of the kids.

She looks back, seeing the mabeasts as she smirks. She walks back approaching them as her horn piece shines. A gray transparent orb emerges from it, surrounding the children and mabeasts. Everything within the orb freezes, all except Rem. She slowly walks up to the mabeasts and slice their necks. She then approaches the children from behind. "Fools, absolute fools my dear!" She laughs maniacally as she closes her fists and punches straight through the kid's stomach. The gleam flashes on her forehead as the orb returns. The kid falls to the floor instantly dying, along with the mabeasts. The other kids look in terror as they run away in fear for their lives. Rem then returns to the nearby city, back into an alley.

She sits in front of a mirror, grabbing a nearby box. She rips the box open frantically, as she pulls out thin clothing contained inside. "BRINDINGDINGDINGGGG" She shouts as she sees a roach laying at the bottom of the box. She grabs it and holds it up to her ear, as the purple light on her forehead shines faintly. "Moshi moshi, this is Rem." She says. It appears as if Rem was talking into the roach as if it were a telephone. Surprisingly, she gets a respond. "My dear Rem.." Rem's eyes widen.

"Boss!" She exclaims. "I'm almost completely matured my dear Rem.. I will soon have enough for what it takes to defeat them" Rem's eyes widen. "Really! How fantastic!" She gets interrupted on the phone. "My friend! My dear! Please, accustom yourself to the clothes you have in your lap!" Rem looks down. "But, right now? What if someone comes through the alleywa-" "No need to worry about that my dear, just put them on. In the case of anyone coming by and watching you strip naked, I'll destroy them for you!" Rem smiles. "Thank you boss. After this, we will go see him, is that correct?" The phone responds

"Yes, he will give us all the information needed for our vengeance and assassination"


	14. Chapter 13: Rem and Betelguese

Subaru looks at Julius and Wilhelm. "I'm going to need your guys' help with the Witch Cult so this whole mess can be over." The two look at Subaru and nod. "We will gather everyone up so we can plan, wait here momentarily" Julius mounts his land dragon and sets off. Subaru looks at Ram, and notices she was opening her mouth as if she was going to say something. "Barusu, can I talk to you about something that's been on my mind?" Subaru nods as she continues.

"The last time I've seen my sister; I might know why she was acting so strangely. Apparently, it's not a disorder she gained, but instead her horn is still intact." Subaru looks down at Beatrice frantically. "I did what I had to do to get her weaker in the moment, I suppose" Subaru's eyes widen. "What's going to happen to her now that she still has her horn?!" Ram looks down as she says with a sad and worried face. "I'm afraid that she is going to grow her horn again. During maturing, the horn tends to have a mind of its own while it grows its power. The higher the power level, the more the horn manipulates its owner." Subaru looks down in thought for a couple of seconds as he looks back up at Ram.

"Ram, are you saying that Rem could be returned to normal and saved?" Ram looks up with a small look of hope. "How do you think we can do that Barusu?"

Subaru puts his hand across his chin in a thinking position. "Well, since only a portion of the horn was cut off, if we remove the whole thing, we might be able to stop her from growing one again. Maybe that was the reason this entire mess happened in the first place, she probably confronted me about this whole fiasco with the witch's cult by threatening to kill me because of the instincts the horn gave her!"

Ram looks up at Subaru with a hopeful face as Beatrice interrupts. "In order for me to remove that thing from her head, I need a precise grip and pull, I suppose. Then I'm going have to destroy it immediately, considering the fact that we don't want it finding its way back to her I suppose." Subaru nods. "Now that I think about it, how long has it been since she's been gone?" Ram responds "About 7 days". Subaru then asks, "How long does it take for a horn to mature?"

* * *

Rem puts on the maid outfit that came in the box. "Boss, it's my size?" Holding the roach up to her ear still, the voice says "Yes my dear Rem, I managed to steal one from the tailor shop near here!" Rem nods. "Should I be going off to meet him?" The voice responds. "Yes, get going!" Rem slowly pulls the roach away from her ear as the voice screams "WAIT" Rem's eyes flashed purple. "THE HORN IS DONE MATURING!"

Rem looks surprised. "Really?!" The severed horn on her forehead starts shaking as it slowly grows. This time, the horn is larger and sharper than when she last had it. Rem stopped talking as she looks down. "Now I've finally taken care of that bitch, I have her body!" She looks up into the sky. "Now. I should probably go talk to him..."

The carriage travels back at a fast pace. Subaru, Julius, Ram, Beatrice, and Wilhelm are all boarded, as they were heading back to the Mathers mansion. "Should be here any minute now..." Subaru rests his chin on his hand, looking out the window as the scenery passes by. They enter the wooded area as he started seeing people with black hoods pass by. "Stop the carriage!"

The carriage then stops as Subaru steps out of it. The black hooded people approach Subaru. "Hey! I appreciate you being here, but the matter I have to attend to is really with your boss, not you guys." The surrounding people then bow down to Subaru, and then vanish into thin air. "At least there's some respect here..."

Subaru waves at Ram and Beatrice. "The village is just a couple of minutes away from foot, just go ahead there and I will catch up!" Ram interjects. "Barusu! Don-" Subaru looks at her with a serious look. Ram looks away blushing. "I won't die Ram." Subaru then leaves and walks toward where the hooded people were last at. Going straight through the forest, Subaru arrives in the little grass field he found with Ram when they saved the children. "

I've been waiting ever so patiently to meet you, believer in love! I am a Sin Archbishop of the Witch's Cult, representing sloth. Betelgeuse Romanee-Conti! " Subaru squints his eyes. "Hey. I'd like to know more about this "ordeal" and what you're planning here."

"With this ordeal, we must test her to find out if this half-devil is good enough. If she is a worthy vessel, the witch will possess her, if she is not, the witch will reject her." Subaru looked at him with an angry look in his face and eyes. "You monster..." Betelgeuse then gets up to his face in a flash. "The words inscribed in the pages of the gospel tell of her love! All of it guides me down this glorious path! Time to show me your gospel!"

Subaru pats down his body and opens his jacket. Looking back up at Betelgeuse with a smug face, he shrugs with his arms out. "Oh, I'm sorry." Betelgeuse turns his head and widens his already popped out eyes. "About what?"

"I spilled some water on my gospel, and it got messy, so I threw it in the trash." Betelgeuse then jumps back as he looks into the sky as tears fall from his eyes. "Proof of love! Authority of sloth, behold the unseen hand!"

Several of the unseen hands emerge from Betelgeuse's back and start going towards Subaru, however Subaru easily dodges them. "An unseen hand is a crappy trick if I can see and evade it." Subaru puts his hands on his waist. Betelgeuse tilts his head as his neck pops. "What did you say?! You can see my unseen hand?!" Subaru brushes his shoulders as he starts walking directly the other way.

"Alright, I say I'm just about done buying time."

"AAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Wilhelm emerges from the woods as he slices Betelgeuse in half. His guts pour out of him, making a sloshy noise on the dirt ground as his remains collapse. Subaru then walks back. "It's over, right?" The cat-boy he saw healing at the white whale battle walked up to him with Wilhelm. "Oh yes, he's vewy much dead." One of his ear's twitch. Subaru looks down at Betelgeuse's corpse, and decides to take his gospel to see if he can read it. However, it's in a language that he cannot read. He decides to take it with him anyways to see if Beatrice or someone can decipher it and find the meaning behind the Witch's Cult. Subaru looks closely at the pages as Wilhelm points at the book. "What's that book anyway?"

Subaru looks up from the pages of the dirty book. "I believe this is the one he called the gospel. I'm taking it to see if I can decipher what it says and find out the meaning behind this cult." The cat-boy then pops up behind Subaru as he talks into his ear. "Why would you do something as cwazy as trying to wead the gospel?!"

"The gospel is the proof that one belongs to the Witch's Cult, it's basically what you'd call their sacred text. Anyone with the potential to be a Witch Cultist will receive one. Once you get a gospel, you are now a devout member of the Witch's Cult." Wilhelm explains as he looks Subaru in the eyes. "Man, how shady can it get. Anyways, I believe we should return and see what the others have done."

Subaru points toward the village as the three walk over. "By the way, you, the one with the cat ears, what's your name?" The cat-boy looks back. "Fewix!".

Returning to the village, Subaru sees Julius standing near the carriage. They approach them. "We crushed two of the ones called fingers. A few of the cultists were skilled, but in the end, they weren't really a threat." Julius states. "Oh yeah? Our team took out Betelgeuse!" Subaru stands proud as Julius smirks at him.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, unseen hands launch out of the forest. "Duck!" Subaru yells as he brings some of the group around him to the ground. However, Subaru gets grabbed by one of the hands and gets dragged into the forest. "Subaru!" Julius and Wilhelm scream in accordance as they run toward the direction he was dragged to.

They try to chase after him but the hand was far too fast and the people in black hoods stopped them. Eventually, he got caught on a tree where he was met with a familiar person in black. "Ahhh! My brain, it trembles!"

"Are you Betelgeuse's-"

"His finger? Yes!"

The hands grip Subaru on the tree tighter, almost crushing his bones.

"I am a finger that carries out whatever needs to be done. One who reciprocates love! I am a diligent one to be sure!" Suddenly, a small red orb floats over to the finger. It starts spinning around it as the finger screams.

"Clarista!"

Julius shoots a beam of light at the finger, instantly killing them once again. Emerging from the woods, Julius walks over to Subaru as he falls from the tree. "What the hell was that? Are there more than one Sin Archbishops of sloth?" Ram quickly rushes up to Julius seeing Subaru. "From what I can see, is the one you killed earlier the clone and the one dead on the ground the real one?" Julius looks down at the corpse with a serious face. "I believe this may not even be a matter of knowing which of them is the real one."

Wilhelm then appears, asking. "You don't mean that the Sin Archbishop of sloth is actually more than one person?" Everyone stands around in thought and concern. They concluded that the sin archbishop of sloth must have been multiple people as they head back to the small village. Ram grabs Subaru's hand, as he is used to. He accepts the hand and holds it tightly as she looks at him with a small smile.

Arriving back to the village, he sees a bunch of blankets on the floor, painted with crimson. Subaru looks down in pain. "It's all my fault..." Ram leans forward to face Subaru. "It's in the past now. Barusu, let's go to the village and safely evacuate everyone." Subaru with a pained face nods and mutters. "Alright."

Going over to the main village by the mansion, Subaru rounds up everyone by the water fountain once again. Subaru explains "Everyone, this is an emergency! We must evacuate you guys so you don't get killed!" Everyone's face washed over with worry. Julius whispers to Subaru. "Subaru, they seem rather uneasy and skeptical. Remember to be considerate."

Subaru scratches his cheek. "Sorry to get right to the point but now that I have your attention the Witch's Cult is up to no good and we've hired specialist from outside of the domain to help get rid of them. While they're doing that, I'll need you guys to safely evacuate out of here." One of the villagers shouts. "That means that it's all true isn't it! It's all because of that silver-haired half elf in the mansion!" Another one also shouts. "That's right! The lord of the domain endorses a half elf for our ruler!"

Subaru rolls his eyes. "Listen. I understand everything you're talking about but we have to evacuate you guys now!" The villagers talk upon themselves as one of them says, "We have no choice then. After all, you're the one who's always saving us, how could we reject you?". Subaru nods with his hands on his hips. Petra walks out of the group approaching Subaru. He smiles lightly. "Oh hey Petra, what's up?" Petra nervously asks. "Is the lady from the mansion going to run away with us too?"

"Huh?"

"She was here earlier. She came to the village yesterday. She told us we should all come to the mansion and stay with her because it's dangerous here right now. Nobody would even listen to her." She said seeming sad. Subaru had a thought of Emilia as he kneels down to pat her head. "Don't worry Petra, it's alright, she'll be fine. Go on and get moving now." Suddenly, Subaru hears a rumble in the distance. "Wh-what was that?" Suddenly, an explosion erupted everyone's ears as Subaru falls unconscious."

"Oh thank goodness Barusu, I was wondering when you would wake up." Subaru's vision unblurs.

Subaru looks up and sees that his head is laying on Ram's lap. "W-what happened?!" Subaru frantically asks, noticing the smoke in the twilight yellow sky. "One of the fingers was a merchant here and self-destructed." Subaru quickly sits up. Looking around, he sees war breaking out between knights and Betelgeuse's men. He also sees several unseen hands and decides to get up and run towards the battle. He sees Wilhelm fighting one of the fingers. "To think, to think, to think, TO THIINK that would resist us this much!"

Wilhelm keeps swinging his sword at a masterly rate. "Aa!" He sends a sword slash at the finger, making sure to slash the unseen hands. He runs up to the finger and stabs him in the chest with his sword. "You're mine." Wilhelm says as he pulls his sword upward, causing the finger's brains to spill out. "If one only focuses on what the unseen arm does in battle, one will fail to see the visible possibilities. That is sloth, yes?" The finger says, collapsing. The finger then self-destructs as Wilhelm is thrown back. "Wilhelm!" Felix runs up to them. "Let me take care of him!"

Kneeling down, Felix uses his healing magic to heal Wilhelm. Another women approaches the group. "But why? But why, but why, but why, but why?! I don't understand why are you still alive and kicking, after the attack that you just endured? Tell me! Tell me why!" Subaru groans.

"These nutjobs just keep coming. Hey, look here!" Subaru holds out the gospel he took from Betelgeuse to show to the finger. Waving it around, he teases, "It's a special gift from your precious witch! This is what you're looking for, right?" The women looks at Subaru with crazed eyes.

"Huh? No good thief! How could you? Those words were not meant for your unworthy eyes!" Subaru pushes the woman back. "Enough with the shouting, cause if you keep yelling at me like that, it's going to make my brain tremble." Subaru pokes his head as he said this with a smirk.

"Plus, Ram would instantly decapitate you if she saw you so up-close and touchy with me" He smirks as He looks over to Julius. He nods, "I see. I hope I can live up to your expectations." Subaru leaves Julius to fight the finger on his own, but the woman follows him so he has an idea.

"Wait, wait, wait!" The finger begs for Subaru to listen to her, but he doesn't listen. Subaru runs down the forest and grabs the barrier stone blocking mabeasts from entering the village. Turning around, the woman walks up to him. "Now, at long last. It seems the end here has finally arrived." She says manically.

Subaru snaps his fingers as he holds up the stone. "Question. Do you know what this is?" The woman tilts her head. "Huh?" Subaru nods with a smirk on his face. "It's a magic stone used for creating barriers. They were all stashed away in trees throughout the forest. What, you didn't even notice them?" The woman squints her eyes. "Magic stones? What are you blabbering on about?"

Mabeasts approach the woman suddenly and attack. Subaru scoffs, "There are lots of mabeasts in the village. People like you and I are prey for them, unless you happening to be holding a barrier stone!"

The mabeasts kill off the woman, as he places the barrier stone back down. He runs back to the village and sees a mess of dead bodies. One of the bodies was Petra's, he sees this and drops to his knees. "AAAAAAAA!" Subaru screams as he holds onto her body tight. Another person approaches Subaru. "An innocent child killed because of you, how sloooothful!"

Subaru felt like he was going to go insane as a voice rang through the scene.

"That's quite enough out of you!"

Ice shards were sent at the finger as they collapsed. "It's Emilia..." Subaru thinks to himself. Emilia walks up to the collapsed finger. "Now stand down, this instant. I won't allow this wickedness to continue anymore!" The finger's eyes widen with a gleam. "How grand! Oh, what a grand day, what a lucky day indeed! What a grand destiny!" Several unseen hands emerge from the finger as they reach toward Emilia. "Oh. my glorious witch! Show me more of your incredible abilities!"

"Now I don't blame you at all for being charmed by my beloved daughter, but I won't let unwanted creeps near her."

Seeing his cute fluffy ears, Puck and Emilia stand strong. Puck then launches a large wave of ice shards at the finger, instantly freezing them and splitting them in half. Subaru sighs with a bit of relief. "It's finally over...".

"It is, I suppose!" Beatrice walks toward Subaru as she bonks his head. "I had to kill a bunch of those simpletons in the black robes, I suppose" She smirks, waiting for praise by Subaru. He stands up and smiles, patting her head. "Good job Beako, I owe you!" He looks around to see Ram and Wilhelm still fighting a small group of hooded men. Subaru was about to turn to Emilia.

"Hey, Mili! Thanks so much for helping us defeat the last one!" He smiles at her as she nods at him also smiling. "You're welcome Subaru. It's only natural I'd help you guys though." Ram finishes fighting off the last of the witch cultists as she walks down to meet with Subaru. "Barusu, is it over?" Subaru turns and smiles at her with booming joy.

"Looks like it. All ten fingers and Betelgeuse have been taken out. Let's head back to the mansion. Mili, could you heal the injured?" Emilia nods as Puck returns to his crystal. "Sure!" She walks over to the injured villagers and start healing them. Felix soon joins her. Subaru and Ram look at each other.

"You wanna finally go back to the mansion now, Ram?" She nods . "Yes, Barusu, lets go!" Holding hands, they walk back to the mansion through the pathway. "Jeez, that was quite the fight back there." Subaru says with a smile on his face.

"Yes, Barusu. We are going to have to move the villagers though." Subaru thinks for a bit. "Yeah, I think we should move them to another nearby village." The two have a small discussion before shortly arriving to the mansion. Subaru enters his room, and looks down at his bed. For whatever reason, he did not feel a slight bit tired at all. "Weird.." he says out loud. A knock on the door, Subaru turns around.

"Barusu, do you have a moment?"

_To Be Continued_

**Authors Notes: Yo everyone! Thank you for 3k views for the republish, I love your guys' comments on our chapters! If there's anything you liked about this chapter. please leave a comment! It would be appreciated!**

**Also, for our discord server, let me do some explaining. If you join it, you'll be able to talk to me and my other friend who writes the dialogue of the story. We will also announce chapters, events, giveaways, and more! Here is the link to join, and have a fantastic day! /4spAq4YdqD**


	15. Chapter 14: Moonlight Sonata ♡

**READ THIS BEFORE READING THE CHAPTER: WE UPDATED THE ENDING OF CHAPTER 13, GO GIVE IT A READ STARTING AT EMILIAS APPEARANCE BEFORE READING THIS CHAPTER**

"Barusu, do you have a moment?"

Subaru turns around. "Sure!" Ram blushes as she grabs his hand and leads him to the top floor of the mansion. Taking him up to a door, she opens it and pulls him through. Standing on a balcony, Ram lets go of Subaru's hand as she sits down at a small table that has another seat on the opposite side. Subaru sits on the other side as he looks to his left, gazing at the sunset. Twilight washes over the horizon, causing the clouds to turn dark.

Subaru turns to face Ram, as she's gazing at the twilight. Seeing the glimmer in her eyes, Subaru blushes. She then turns to face him and their eyes meet. Subaru looks down at the table and sees wine with a small cheesecake on the table. "Thank you for this Ram!" Ram sighed. "Frederica is the one who made it, stupid Barusu." Subaru looks down. "Yeah.." The two sit in silence for a bit as Frederica comes in to break the silence. "Hello you two! Here some water for you Subaru." Frederica then pours water into Subaru's glass.

She bows and then exits. Subaru decides to start the conversation. "How aren't you tired, Ram?" Subaru asks. "I guess something has been keeping me awake." Subaru turned to her with a slightly concerned face. "What could that be?" Subaru gets up and grabs his glass of water, looking into the sky while sipping the water. Ram quickly gets up. "Barusu!" Subaru looks over at her. "Wh-what is it? Did I do something?" Subaru seemed a bit frightened.

"I'm glad you didn't die!" Subaru looked a bit confused. "Why did you say that in such a frantic tone?" Ram's face washes over with a blush as she sits down again. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to jump at you like that." She slowly sits back down as Subaru quickly rushes over to her grabbing her hand. "Is there something you want to tell me?" Ram slides away from his hand as she sits. "Just forget about it, stupid Barusu."

Subaru looks back into the sunset left with his own thoughts. He then hears the chair slide and Ram walking over to his left. She stands with him as she gazes at the sun as well. "The sunset is pretty isn't it." Subaru says with a smile, enjoying Ram's company.

She responds "It is." in a light tone. Subaru never heard her use that tone of voice before. He then feels her hand slip into his. He accepts it and holds it tight. "By the way Barusu, do you happen to know where Lord Roswaal went? He left without saying a word." Subaru's eyebrows fall into an interested look.

"Huh? I didn't hear anything about him leaving. That's a bit strange..." Ram then caresses his hand with hers. "I believe we shouldn't worry. As he is the kingdom's strongest magic user I'm sure Lord Roswaal will be fine." Subaru's eyes widen. "Strongest magic user? Woah!" Ram smirks and scoffs. "That's exactly why Beatrice is contracted to protect the forbidden library, to protect his books from prying eyes." Subaru's eyes squint. "I see."

The two fall silent and look back at the sunset. Subaru couldn't even think that much at the moment, since his mind was all over the place. Ram, the White Whale, Betelgeuse, and rem were switching his thoughts all over the place.

He looks over to Ram, noticing she looks nervous, as if she's about to say something. She quickly looks over to him and speaks. "B-barusu, I have something to tell you!" Subaru starts to sweat. "Huh? What is it?". She averts her eyes downward.

"I'm not sure how to put this, but... I-.." She pauses for a small second as she mumbles. "love you..."

Subaru's eyes widen as he doesn't know how to respond. Ram continues. "Ever since we met.. I had a feeling.."

"H-huh?!"

Ram gets closer to Subaru's face with a blush. "Barusu, I love your unique eye color and clothes, it makes you special. I love your kind personality towards children and adults alike. I love the way you never give up. I love the way you always make things right. I-I love you!" Subaru then looks down with a shocked look on his face. "H-how can you.. love someone like me? You call me pathetic all the time and-"

Suddenly he was interrupted by something covering his lips. His eyebrows raise as he sees Ram's lips pressed against his. She pulls back and looks at him. "I wont even let you st-" She then was interrupted by Subaru grabbing her by the waist and head and kissing her.

She closed her eyes as they held eachother in the kiss for what felt like forever to Subaru. The wind gave a breeze and gave them a chill. Subaru pulls back and gives Ram a smile. "I-I love you too then Ram." She pulls him in for another kiss as Subaru laughs a bit.

Once again pulling back, he smiles. "Not gonna lie, I was shocked to hear those words come out of your mouth." Ram scoffs. "I had to get it off my chest..." They both sit down and talk. They laughed, flirted, and blushed. Subaru put a piece of the cheesecake in his mouth as his eyes widen.

"Wow.. This is really good!" He starts shoving pieces down his mouth as Ram rolls her eyes. "How disgusting, Barusu, go die" Subaru blushes with a surprised look on his face. "Wh- what do you mean?! I cant enjoy this cheesecake?!" Ram laughs. "Cutie" Subaru's eyes widen as he puts a slice in his mouth. "Don't call me that.." Ram smirks. "Cutie" Subaru blushes and pouts. She smiles at him and says "I've captured that face for my memory" Subaru rolls his eyes.

They continue to talk until the moon is fully out. Subaru stands up and looks up at the large moon. "So this other world has a moon?" Subaru thinks to himself.

Walking down to the main lobby at midnight, the moonlight shines through the windows. Subaru walks down the staircase and approaches the piano in the hallway. "They have.. pianos here too?" He thinks to himself. "Barusu, what are you doing?" Subaru sits down on the stool of the piano, the moonlight shining through the windows.

"What I'm about to do is cliché as hell isn't it?" He thinks to himself. Ram walks up to the piano and leans on to it. "You gonna play anything?" She asks. Subaru looks down in thought. "Maybe this world might not know the songs I do.." He looks up and Ram and nods.

He starts playing the song that was a classic in his world. Everyone has at least heard it once. It was the 1st movement of the piano sonata, in the key of C-sharp minor. Everyone knew it as Beethoven's most well known pieces in music.

Subaru played it in a soft tone, as Ram's eyes widen. She stares at the night sky through the window. Tears start welling up in her eyes as he wraps up the song. "Th-that was beautiful Barusu.." Subaru gives her a soft smile. "Thanks!" He whispers.

Walking through the woods, Rem had a crazed look in her face. "Travelling from the capital to here on foot is impossible.. but I'm here!" She looks up at the towering hill leading up to the building. "So.. according to what he told me, it should take me until sunrise to get there.." She starts walking upward. "Either ways, I'd be overjoyed to see how Subaru is doing!"

Volume 3 end


	16. Chapter 15: Rem

"Good morning, Barusu"

Subaru slowly opens his eyes and sees Ram's pink-red eyes. He smiles, noticing he is in her embrace. "Good morning, Ram!" Ram pouts and pokes his cheeks. "You have morning breath, go brush your teeth, disgusting Barusu." Subaru 's face turns red as he quickly gets up and opens the bathroom door. "It's not something I can control.." He mutters. He looks up at the mirror and sees his hair is a mess. Grabbing his toothbrush, he starts brushing his teeth as he reconciles the events from last night in his head.

"A lot happened last night.. I guess me and Ram are lovers now." He blushes as he spits into the sink and washes out his mouth. Subaru turns back and sees Ram standing at the entrance of the bathroom. Subaru smiles "All done!" She smirks. "Let me make sure you did." She grabs Subaru's hand and pulls him close to her.

She kisses him and they stayed embraced, lips locked. With blushes written across their face, Subaru pulls back and smiles. "Stupid Barusu" She says, smirking while walking away. "We have some chores today, so hurry up!" She closes the bathroom door as Subaru fixes his hair. "I'm so happy I have her.." He thinks to himself while smiling. After fixing his hairstyle, he exits the bathroom and starts to change into his butler uniform. Suddenly, as he was shirtless, Ram busts in to the room. "Barusu! We need to talk!" Subaru turns around as he puts on a concerned expression. "Huh?!"

Ram seemed to be panicking as she shouts. "Rem's coming!" Subaru's eyes widen. "Wh-what?!" Ram falls onto her knees as she puts her face in her hand. "I felt something through the sense I shared with her. I used my clairvoyance and found out she's coming. Her horn... It's... grown..." Ram starts crying, thinking about what happened to her sister. Subaru kneels and pulls her into an embrace. "Why-did this have to happen..." Ram said in between sobs. Subaru looks down at her, buried in his chest, with a determined face. "Don't worry Ram, we'll fix this."

She looks up at him with teary eyes. After a small pause, she says "I've put my faith in you Barusu!" After holding her for a bit longer, Subaru gets back up and puts on a shirt quickly. "If Rem is coming to kill us, what do you think we should do?" Ram recovering from her tears, says. "Go talk to Miss Beatrice and see if she can help." Subaru nods and rushes out of the room

Subaru uses his gut feeling and busts into a random room to come across the forbidden library. "Beakooooooo!" With fire in his eyes, Beatrice looks up from her book. "What do you want, I suppose?" Subaru starts. "Rem's coming! Ram said her horn grew, we need your help!" Beatrice's eyes squint. "Fine, I'll help you I suppose. I am contracted to you after all." Subaru smiles. "Thanks Beako!" Beatrice pouts. "Betty doesn't like that name I suppose."

Subaru grabs Beatrice and puts her on his back as he runs through the mansion frantically. He meets back up with Ram in his room. "Ram, Beako agreed to help us." Ram was looking out of the window in the room. "This isn't good..." Ram looks back at Subaru. "I looked at my clairvoyance again and it seems as Rem has two other people with her, both girls. One is a child that has purple hair and appears to be a kid, while the other seems thin and has black hair." Subaru has a flash of the girl that he met back at the beginning. "Oh no- Elsa?!" Ram looks at Subaru with a panicked look. "Wait Barusu, how do you know-" Subaru interrupts.

"I don't like to recall it but I went up against her before I came to this mansion." Ram nods. "I see. Will we be able to defeat her?" Subaru remembers the night at the loot house. Considering she was able to survive a devastating blow from Reinhard that left the building they were in torn to shreds, He most likely wont be able to defeat her himself. "I don't think so.. She survived even Reinhard." Ram's eyes widen hearing the words come out of his mouth. Subaru notices this, and tries to lighten up her mood. "I think we'll defeat her with your and Beako's help though!" He said with a determined tone.

Before he could get a response, a new voice rang through the room, sending chills down everyone's spine. "My, what an interesting discussion you are having." Subaru turns around to see Elsa walking into the room that they were in. "Barusu!" Ram screams as Subaru holds her back from jumping at Elsa. She licks her lips, saying. "Now, now, I'm just one of the guests here at the reunion!" Elsa stepped aside from the door. In the hallway, they were able to hear footsteps ring through the walls. Clacking onto the hard, polished floor, they saw a figure appear at the other side of the door. "It's nice to finally see you again... Subaru and sister."

* * *

Subaru's eyes widen at the person standing at the other side of the door. "Rem?! What are you doing here?!" Rem stands at the door, while she undoes her hair, letting it flow down her body. "To finish this." Subaru notices that Rem's horn is present. However, it was bigger compared to the last time he remembered seeing it. It was also larger. "R-" before he could say anything, Elsa charges at Subaru with her blade. However Ram blocks it with wind magic. Rem walks up to Subaru with her hand held out. "What are you doing? Rem?" He starts to back up as he generates crystal shards.

"I can't wait to compare what's inside of your bellies!" Elsa says with joy in her voice. "Don't get all tense, Subaru-kun" Rem touches Subaru gently as she starts to walk away. "Wh- Rem? What did you do to me?" He looks at the place Rem touched him. Rem looks back at him with a grin on her face. Red gleams in her eyes as Subaru looks down, his entire body explodes in an orange glow. "AH-" Subaru had the lower half of his body blown up as the other half lays across the room. He looks up with pain.

Rem laughs manically as she looks down at Subaru. Subaru quickly scanned the room, everyone was there but he noticed Beatrice was absent. The last thing he saw and heard was Rem's laughing before his head imploded. Elsa licks her lips as she watches the scene with joy in her eyes.

"Barusu! We need to talk. Are you alright?"

Subaru's eyes widen as a cold chill runs down his body. Snapping back to reality, he says. "I'm fine now, I was just waking up. What do you want to talk about?" Ram looked panicked as she says, "It appears that Rem and two other people are on their way to where we are right now. What should we do?" Subaru thinks about how Rem could have possibly killed him. He looks at the place she touched him and thought. "Wait, did she touch me and-" Subaru's eyes widen once again. "She was able to place a bomb on me?!" He looks down in thought as he sweats.

"I wouldn't get too close to Rem. Never know what powers she might have." Subaru mutters. Ram nods in response. "Alright then." Subaru also remembered how Beatrice wasn't in the room when Rem and Elsa appeared. "Let me get Beako." Subaru runs out of the room and chooses a random door to the forbidden library again. "Yo, Beako." She looks up from her book and squints her eyes. "What do you want now I suppose?"

"I need you to help. Rem and two others are on their way to us and I need your help. Can you come with me?"

"Fine, I suppose."

Beatrice and Subaru make their way to the room. "We have to be quick about this, we never know when she will show up!" Subaru says while entering the room with her.

* * *

Frederica was on her way to asses her chores that she had to do in the main hall and entrance. She just finished cleaning up the used rooms on the second floor of the mansion. She was on her way to the main hall to open the blinds she closed last night prior to Subaru and Ram sharing their moment, but something was off. She heard footsteps ring through the darkened room. She stood at the top of the staircase, shaken.

"This.. is a test." Rem appeared in Frederica's sight, as a gray orb engulfed the room, freezing Frederica completley. Rem removes the tie her hair is in, letting it flow freely again. The grey orb then shrinks, as Frederica's face falls into shock.

"Wh-what are you doing here Rem?!" Rem smirks as she responds. "Hello Frederica. It's nice to see you again." Frederica was too shocked to respond. Rem starts walking up the staircase as she reaches her hand out to Frederica. She notices this and dodges her attempt at touching her. "What do you think you're doing?!" Rem smiles. "Whats wrong, dear Frederica, could I not give you a warm and gentle welcome back hug?" Rem's eyes widen, noticing Frederica was growing a yellow tail that was about the size of her body. She also noticed her arms were starting to grow yellow fur, matching her hair.

Frederica was turning into a beast, she started growing bigger as her body morphed into her beast form. Rem was able to touch her during this phase, and looked up at her with a smug smile. "Underwhelming." She says, as Frederica was blown to bits. Rem wipes her hands as she speaks to the now empty hall.

"Now... Where is Subaru and sister..." Elsa walks up the staircase as she responds. "I'm indeed excited to see what their guts look like." A blush falls over Elsa's face as she licks her lips

"How do you think we're going to pull that off?!" Ram exclaims at Subaru's request. "Actually, can you try freezing her Beako?" Subaru looks at Beatrice as she crosses her arms and pouts. "Now why should I do that I suppose?!" She questions. Subaru sighs as he reminds her. "Remember, you're contracted with me." Of course, Beatrice complied. "Fine, I suppose!" Subaru perks up as he feels a presence at the door of the room. "Guess we have an early appearance.."

"Hello again Subaru, sister, and Miss Beatrice." Ram looks up at the door as fear falls over her face. "Rem?!" Beatrice steps in front of the two as she flips her hair. "Stay back. I won't hold back, not even against you." Rem responds with a stern tone. "Don't worry, I'll make sure it's over quickly." Rem starts to walk toward them with her hand out.

"Beako! Now!" Beatrice quickly generates a wave of shards and sends them toward Rem. However, before they could come near her, they vanish. "Huh?!" Subaru looks around, still seeing Rem walking toward the three. Ram points at Rem's forehead. "Look, her horn has grown!" Subaru sweats as he groans. "This isn't good..."

Subaru remembers Rem touching him as he yells, "Don't let her touch you!" A crazy look falls over Rem's face as she grins. "Don't worry, I'll make sure it's over in a second." Elsa then walks through the door, throwing a blade at Subaru. Beatrice quickly deflects it, but Elsa easily dodges it by turning her head slightly. "Thanks Beako!" Ram then yells. "Fura!" Sending her wind magic at Rem. However, Rem made the gust vanish.

"I'll send all three of you to meet the angels together!" Elsa then squints her eyes with a blush on her face. "I can't wait to see your guts!" She looks directly into Subaru's eyes as a blade was thrown at him once again. However, this blade was sent toward him at an alarming rate. His eyes widen, seeing it passed Beatrice and went straight into his stomach. He collapses onto the floor, as blood spurts out of his stomach. He coughs up blood as he looks up at Ram screaming. "Barusu! Al Fura!"

The group starts to fight the two, but it was already too late for Subaru. Ram rushed over to him as tears ran down her face. "D-don't die!" However, he heard Rem's voice shout, "In your dreams!". The last thing Subaru sees before his vision faded to black was Ram, with a shocked face, and a glow of orange emerging from her chest.

_To be continued_


	17. Chapter 16: The Faithful Reunion

Subaru heard a voice coming from behind him. "Barusu, we need to talk!" She exclaims, looking panicked. Subaru turns around while putting on his shirt. "About Rem?" Ram's eyes widen a little, thinking Subaru read her mind somehow. "Wait Barusu, how did you know?" Subaru shrugs with a sigh, "I was just guessing." Ram looked down, clenching her fists. "It appears that Rem is on her way to us as we speak. I checked with my clairvoyance." Subaru looks down with sorrow, responding. "I don't think we'll be able to take her on..."

Ram looks at him with a worried and confused face. "What makes you say that?" Subaru remembers her ability to make attacks that launch at her disappear somehow. Along with her ability to place bombs on people. "I have a good feeling something happened to her horn causing it to regrow." Ram remembers seeing her horn while using her clairvoyance. "Actually, her horn did appear larger so you could be correct." Subaru then had an idea. Emilia. Considering they got back from the witch cult fight yesterday, she probably made it back by then.

"I need to talk to Mili and Beako for a minute." Subaru says, with a more hopeful tone in his voice. "For what?" Ram asks. "Hopefully if we can get Puck and Beako to help, we will be able to defeat her." Subaru walked out of the room. "Stay here Ram" He makes his way to Emilia's room, which he has been to once before. Preparing his speech on the way, he enters her room. Emilia was at her desk, appearing to be writing something. She looks over to see who entered her room.

"Huh? Subaru?" Emilia said in a questioned tone. "Hey Mili... We need to talk about something. Rem is coming to the mansion, Ram learned of this through her clairvoyance. I need yours and Puck's help." Almost as soon as he finished his sentence, her crystal pendant starting glowing as Puck materializes near her. With the flicking of his ears and a small yawn, he speaks. "Good morning Lia." Emilia smiles. "Good morning Puck! What makes you think that Rem might do something, Subaru?"

"Ram said her horn grew bigger. That could mean a lot of things, but we don't have much time until she arrives." Subaru says with a stern tone in his voice. Emilia nods. "Puck, I'm going to need your help this morning!" She gets up and follows. as Subaru exits the room

Choosing a random door, Subaru walks into the forbidden library. "Wow! How did you know which door Beatrice was behind?" She says while walking through the door with him. "That's what I'm wondering, I suppose!" Beatrice exclaimed while looking up from her book pouting. Subaru scratches his cheek. "Yo, Beako. I need your help. Rem is coming to the mansion and it would appear her horn has grown even larger than before." Beatrice closes her eyes and she crosses her arms. "Fine I suppose, we are contracted after all."

"Hello again Frederica. It's been a while since I last saw you." Frederica has a shocked expression on her face, seeing Rem with her long hair. "H-hello Rem? What are you doing here?" Rem shows an evil smirk. "To finish what I started, of course!" Frederica remembers the situation Subaru and Ram were in not too long ago. She then looks at Rem with a mad look. "I must stop you then." Frederica's tail starts to grow again as another voice rang through the hall. "I am very interested to see what the guts of a demi-human look like indeed." Elsa emerges from the shadows, with her foot on the first step.

Rem looks up at Frederica with a straight face. "Now tell me, where is sister?" Frederica finished her morph as she says in a growl. "I won't tell you where they are!" Rem rolls her eyes. "Then I'll just have to kill you." Her horn starts throbbing as she reaches her hand out. Frederica raises her paw and slams it down to crush Rem, however Rem touched her hand before it crushed her, instantly blowing her to pieces. Her horn stopped throbbing as she looked back at Elsa.

* * *

"They're here." Ram says frantically, peeking through the window as she looks back at the group. Subaru, Beatrice, Puck, and Emilia stand in the room as they were discussing what they should do to fend off Rem and Elsa. "This isn't good." Subaru says in a worried tone. Beatrice toys with her hair as she says, "Since the younger maid regrew her horn, she must have gotten stronger I suppose." Ram's eyes widen as she pointed behind Subaru. Turning around, Rem was entering the room slowly.

"Hello sister." Rem said with a grin on her face. "Rem?!" Rem was covered with Frederica's blood, and her horn was shining purple. Behind her, entered Elsa. "I am rather curious to see what the guts of two spirits look like." Puck laughs as he generates a sea of crystal shards. "Like we have any" He says without a strain of worriedness in his tone. Beatrice holds her hand out. "Stay back I suppose." Puck and Beatrice then send their shards at Elsa. With some dodging, they managed to get her frozen and immobile.

Beatrice flips her hair as she smirks. Subaru notices Rem leaning against the wall with her arms and legs crossed. "You done?" Rem gets off of leaning against the wall. "Nah, we were just getting started" Puck says with a smug face as he points into the air, showing more crystallized mana. Subaru looks over at Ram, as she runs over to him, grabbing his hand. "We are going to stop you right here right now Rem!" Subaru says with a stern look on his face. Subaru looks over to Ram-

_A purple flash occurred_

Subaru had his vision quickly come back after the flash blinded him. Still looking at the direction of Ram, he quickly rubs his eyes with his other hand. Holding on to hers tight, he was glad nothing had happened to her. "Ram!" Subaru yelled. However, he got no response. Only to come to realize that her head was completely missing from her body. Subaru froze up and started to sweat. He started shaking as the body collapsed onto the floor, spewing blood everywhere. "R-RAM NO!" Subaru screamed into the room.

Emilia screamed from the other side of the room. "SUBARU!" He looked over to see Emilia with a shocked look on her face, standing next to Beatrice that had an open wound through her body. She started to crawl over to Subaru as he kneeled down to grab her hand. "Beako! Beatrice! Is there magic that can heal?! Just tell me the spell and I'll-" She clenched Subaru's hand as she looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "Even.. If I'm dead.. we still share the contract, I sup-" She died in his hands as Subaru's tears stained the carpeted floor he stood on.

"My my, may we see what your guts look like now?" Subaru looked up to see Elsa broke out of the ice she was bound to. Emilia held her broken crystal as she fell onto her knees. "Rem! Why?!" She said as Rem looked at her with a smug face. Subaru couldn't hear anything else for much longer, however. He was instantly decapitated by Elsa throwing a blade at his neck.

Subaru was looking into his own eyes in the mirror. He kept staring at himself as Ram busts through the door of the bathroom. "Barusu! We-.. what's wrong?" Ram notices Subaru was shaken, looking at himself in the mirror. He saw Ram through the reflection, with her head still intact. He quickly turned and ran to her, hugging her tightly as starts to tear up. "Hey!" Ram says. She felt tears wet her shoulder as she held him close.

Subaru cried without making any noise. Silent tears fell through his eyes and into Ram's shoulder. Ram grabs Subaru's shoulders and pushes him back to where he could see her face. "Barusu, are you alright?" Subaru didn't respond again. Tears kept coming out of his eyes, but he didn't want to say anything, nor could he say anything. He was mentally and emotionally struck after seeing Ram without her head.

Ram decides its better off to not tell Subaru about what's going to happen, seeing he is immobile at the moment. Ram put Subaru to bed as he closed his eyes, relaxing at Ram soothing him.

Subaru woke up in bed as he sat up and looked around. "It's unusually quiet..." Subaru quickly fell into a state of panic, realizing that Rem and Elsa must have came to the mansion. Hopping out of bed, it was surprisingly cold. He felt like he was standing out in the middle of a snowstorm. Shivering, he slowly walks to the door and opens it, seeing a trail of blood begin from the hall.

Walking through the hallway, he saw Ram bound to the wall. It looked like someone cut her body in half and stitched the front side of the body to the wall. Subaru started crying as he threw up on the floor. The puke almost froze immediately upon hitting the carpeted floor, along with his tears. He started to shiver more violently as he kept walking.

He then saw Emilia on the floor with a pool of blood surrounding her. Looking down at her, there were multiple gashes throughout her body. However, her head was jammed inside of a thin vase. Subaru's lips started quivering as the tears rolling down his cheeks turned solid. He moved past quickly only to see Beatrice split into multiple pieces scattered across the hall.

Subaru then looked out of the window. It was very cloudy with heavy snowfall. Not knowing what he was doing, he heard noise outside. Going down to the entrance of the mansion, he walked through the door. He saw Reinhard standing in the courtyard, seeming to be looking up to the mansion. "R-Reinhard?" He mumbled to himself as he walked to him.

"Subaru! Step aside!" Reinhard said. Subaru stepped to the left of Reinhard as he looked up to see the sight before him. Standing behind the mansion was a colossal beast. "Wh-What is that?!" Subaru was going to run away but he realized that his legs were frozen. Reinhard then started speaking. "You froze the entire country! I'm glad I was nearby to asses this situation!" Subaru looked to his left, seeing Rem and Elsa frozen, looking like they were walking away from the mansion.

"I'm sending the rest of this sick country to sleep, with my daughter..." A voice rang through the sky, as if someone was speaking through loudspeakers. Subaru recognized the voice belonging to someone. "P-Pu-" Subaru quickly was interrupted as the ice went up his body and broke up the upper half of his body, falling onto the snow. Subaru couldn't speak anymore as he could only see Reinhard.

"I guess I have no time to waste then…" Reinhard wields his sword from his hip as it glows blue, illuminating almost the entire property as he swings it. The world seemed to have broken apart like glass. The sky was shattered as stars that had multiple vast sized shine through the night. A blue ray came down from space and landed on the beast as Subaru's vision quickly subsided.

* * *

"Barusu, what's wrong?"

Subaru turned around as he quickly responds. "I have an idea if she decides to fight." Ram's eyes widen. "How did you know Rem was coming?" Subaru didn't respond as he thought about what he was going to do. "Reinhard! Reinhard said he was nearby before this happened! I have to get to him somehow!" Subaru asks Ram. "Is there any cities or towns near here?" Ram nods. "Yes, there's one near the village that was destroyed yesterday."

Subaru had a sign of hope in his eyes. "Ram!" Subaru says. She responds "What is it?" Subaru smirks. "This has to work!" He says with relief and hope. " Go tell Frederica to sneak around the forest and go get Reinhard! Meanwhile, let's hold her off for as long as possible, maybe someone will come help us?"

Ram decided to hold off on questions as she proceeds. "I did notice that her horn was larger, so we might not be able to defeat her." Ram nods. "Ill go alert Frederica immediately, and ill come back here after!" Subaru nods as they both rush out of the room.

Beatrice: "What did you want me for, I suppose?"

Puck yawns. "Good morning Lia-" Subaru busts through the room. "I have no time to explain, this is an emergency and we need to take cover in the forbidden library!" Emilia stands up frantically at Subaru's words. "What's happening?!" Subaru grabs her hand and starts running out of her room with her and Puck. "I'll explain it when we get there!"

Subaru opens up a door to the forbidden library, throwing Emilia and Puck in there. "Beako!" Subaru seemed to be happy, considering he saw her alive after she was cut to pieces in his previous loop. "What did you call me for Subaru?" Emilia asks. "And why are you here, I wonder?" Beatrice asks. "Rem is coming to the mansion!" Emilia's eyes widen as Beatrice's eyes squint. Ram shortly arrives after the three.

"Frederica is on her way, are you satisfied now Barusu?" Subaru nods as he looks at the group. "Mili, Beako, Puck, I need to talk to you guys." Emilia and Puck nod as Beatrice crosses her arms, listening for Subaru's word. "I need your help. Rem is coming with an assassin and her horn has grown. There's no way me and Ram alone could take her on." Beatrice starts. "What's your plan, I suppose?"

Subaru points at her. "Let's hold them off for as long as possible." He says with a smirk. "Then what?" Emilia asks worried. Subaru nods saying, "I'm just hoping Roswaal comes back soon... buuuuut Frederica is on her way to go get Reinhard right now!" Ram looks up at Subaru. "It's possible that Lord Roswaal could come back today."

Beatrice crosses her arms as she says. "Fine, I suppose."

Subaru looks over to Beatrice. "My first plan is that we hide in the forbidden library using Beako's door crossing." Beatrice pouts. "Fine, I suppose. But don't steal any books!" Subaru rolls his eyes as he smiles. "I won't, Beako."

Subaru heard footsteps coming from the hall as his eyes widen. "I hear them. Beako, use your door crossing!" Beatrice then flicked her hand up as she put it back down. "There, I suppose." Subaru pressed up his ear against the do-

A purple flash occurred

Subaru and Beatrice looked around frantically. "Wh-what happened?!" Ram looked over at Subaru. "Barusu, what's wrong? Nothing happened!" Subaru took a small sigh of relief. "You did see that too, I suppose?" Beatrice asked Subaru. "Yeah, I did Beako. Usually when that happens, something always bad happens right after! Maybe she was using the ability to try to find u-" Subaru heard pounding footsteps approach the door. "Beak-"

"Already done, I suppose!" Subaru heard the hall go quiet. "Wow! Good job Beako!" Ram rolled her eyes. "Don't be so paranoid, stupid Barusu!" Subaru blushed and scoffed. He heard echoes come down the hall, however. "I wonder where Subaru could be..." He heard a voice of Rem echo through the hallway. "I'm very curious as well. I would like to see the insides of a spirit too." Subaru rolled his eyes. "Of course, that's Elsa, who wouldn't know that?!" He thinks to himself/

"Jeez, you're weird Elsa." Rem tells Elsa. "I am the bowel hunter after all." Subaru heard the echoes subside with no footsteps to be heard. "Elsa and Rem are freaks..." Subaru then heard the sound of growls echo through the hall. "Are those.. mabeasts?!" Ram perks up and responds. "That means one of them is controlling the beasts. Barusu, be careful."

Subaru looks over to everyone as he had an idea. "Everyone! You should all hide! Since this library is big and all, Beako has taste!" Beatrice scoffs flipping her hair. "I couldn't have said it any better, I suppose!" She smiles softly as everyone starts shifting their positions.

* * *

"Beako! Switch off the lights!" Subaru quietly whispers through the library. Ram and Subaru were hiding underneath a table on the second floor of the library, meanwhile Emilia was hiding in a small cabinet nearby. Beatrice decided to use her magic to hide herself. "Ok, I suppose" The lights switch out as the room goes dark. Subaru relaxes as he feels someone clinging onto him. "Of course, she would do it while no one is looking…"

After waiting for about 10 minutes, they hear the door creak open as light flooded the room. "Is anyone here?" Subaru tenses up as he sees Rem on the other side of the door, casting a long shadow across the room. Rem smiles, without even seeing Ram, she shouts. "We meet again, sister!" Subaru thought to himself. "D-don't fall for it. I do have a backup if you do either way."

"R-rem?!" Ram shouts. "Ugh! What the fuck?! Ok everyone! Now!" Subaru yells. Beatrice jumps through the portal as shards launch at Rem from all different directions. Rem dodges them all with ease. "That was a surprise indeed!" She says manically. Ram pops around the corner of a bookshelf. "El Fura!" The wind seemed to slightly scratch Rem. "Woah! He got a bit of her!" Subaru exclaimed

"Say goodnight!" Puck sent a devastating number of shards at Rem, but he wasn't aiming at her. Rem backed up , thinking they were going to her. Elsa sees this and thinks the same, but the shards hit her instead and shatter her into a million pieces. The blood shed from her also freezes rather quickly. Subaru had a hopeful look as Puck scratches his ear. "Oops, guess I misaimed!"

"Did we get Elsa?!" Subaru yelled cheerfully. "It appears so." Emilia said. Subaru felt something hurdling toward him, as the blade barely passed him. "That was very impressive! Please do entertain me!" Subaru's eyes widen. "H-huh? Didn't Puck just freeze you to death?" Elsa points at Rem's forehead, with her horn throbbing. "You must be mistaken then. I'm still alive!" Subaru looks back at where the dead body was, but there were no signs of any frozen blood.

"N-no!" Subaru looked down as he was panicking. "Now, I'll send you to meet the angels!" Elsa jumps onto the bookshelf and starts jumping from bookshelf to bookshelf. Beatrice stood in the middle of the library as she looked up at Elsa. "Stop ruining my collection, I-" Elsa leaped down to Beatrice and threw the blade at her, but she deflected it with her magic. The blade hit Elsa's shoulder as it spewed blood.

Rem makes her way to the second floor as she sees Ram. "Sister, dear sister, I feel so overjoyed to see you again that I want to hug you!" Rem walks toward her with her arms out. Puck then appears with Emilia, coming out of the cabinet. "Sorry to poop on your reunion, but I can't let that happen today!" Puck speaks, as he sends a large number of shards at Rem, keeping her occupied. "Damn it, Frederica, how long will it take you!" Subaru yells.

Elsa pulls the blade out of her shoulder, as she licks the blood off of it. "That sure was a pleasant surprise, please, entertain me more!" She says with a lewd blush on her face. Beatrice looks at her with disgust. "Such a revolting human, I suppose!" Elsa continues to dash around the shelves as Beatrice kept blocking waves of attacks she sent. She leaped down at her once again, but Beatrice had a plan this time. She opened a portal in the floor, which Elsa fell through. She closed it perfectly at the moment where her head met ground level, decapitating her. "Now die where you stand, I suppose!" Beatrice flips her hair.

Rem looked down at Elsa's head. "No! This can't be!" She tried to use a time leap again, but her horn wasn't cooperating. "Damn it! I shouldn't have rushed its maturing period!" She screams in her head. "Subaru, Sister, Miss Beatrice, Miss Emilia! You have all met your demise! I hate to have to bring it down to this but.. AHHH!" She screams as a grey orb engulfs the entire room. Everyone freezes in place as she starts to laugh manically.

"It seems like you all have stopped moving! I wonder why!" She speaks as she walks up to her sister. Wrapping her arms gently around her, she whispers into her ear. "Sister~" This sends a chill down Ram's back. Rem starts rubbing Ram's tummy as Subaru could only watch. "Wh-what the hell?! Why can't we move, but she ca-" Subaru was interrupted at the sound of footsteps coming down the hall.

Rem perks up as her eyes widened to the length of Betelgeuse's. A familiar figure in a blue uniform walked through the door. Judging from his outfit with a mitch match of colors and the makeup on his face with blue hair, it definitely looked like he belonged in a circus. "My, it's nice to see you again Reeeeeem!" The grey orb immediately vanishes at the flick of Roswaal's hand. "R-Ros!" Subaru cheered as Ram looked up to see Roswaal. "Lord Roswaal!"

Frederica then steps by Roswaal at the door. A man in a white uniform with red hair accompanied her. "Reinhard's here too?!" Reinhard smirked as he says, "I was called here by Frederica. I heard you need help, is that correct?" Rem stepped back. "No! It can't be! Two of the most powerful people in the entire country?!" She thinks to herself in a panic.

Reinhard stepped forward along with Roswaal. "I heard you're the one causing this trouble. Any objections?" Reinhard pointed at Rem as she smiled. "No, not at all! I'd love to fight the sword saint!" Reinhard nods. "Very well then, considering your powers on what Sir Roswaal saw just now, I'm going to be needing this!" He wields the sword on his waist. "Wait, Rem's worthy of his sword?!" Subaru could only watch in awe.

"What will you do now?" Rem said with a smug look on her face. "I'm not worried at all!" She continues. "I will now eliminate you with the swordplay of the Astrea famil-" Rem points up to the sky as her horn shined. It appeared everything around her broke into pieces as everyone stood still like statues. Space surrounded the atmosphere as the pieces vanished into thin air. "Yes! I've won!" She yells as she walks up to Reinhard.

"I'll have the honor to kill-" Reinhard's voice interrupted her preaching as he says. "Was this really the ace up your sleeve?" Suddenly, all of the shattered pieces of the mansion were brought back together as if nothing happened. The space atmosphere disappeared as Rem was left speechless and unable to move due to shock. "Now! Let's get this over with!" He points his sword up as it glows blue. Lights started spewing everywhere as it blinded everyone.

* * *

A large explosion boomed through the property of the Mathers mansion. The forbidden library was torn to shreds, books everywhere. Beatrice popped up as she pouted. "My books, I suppose!" Subaru looked down at Reinhard with a happy look on his face. Rem was nowhere to be seen, as he asks from the floor above. "Did you get her?!" Reinhard nods with a smirk on his face. "It would appear so." Subaru collapsed with a large sigh of relief. "Thank god!"

Not long after, Ram collapsed by Subaru's side with tears flowing down her eyes. "Rem... Why!" She screams holding onto Subaru. She was crying over Rem being evaporated. "Why did this have to happen!" Subaru held her as he started tearing up at the emotional Ram.

Beatrice steps up to Reinhard as she speaks. "It seems that we have won I suppose!" Roswaal speaks. "This has turned into quiiiite the mess hasn't it?" He says. Reinhard nods and smiles. "If you want, I'll pay for the damages." Beatrice shouts at him. "You better, I suppose!" Roswaal then speaks. "Now now Beatrice. You're toooooo kind, Reinhard!" He speaks cheerfully looking at him.

Ram clings onto Subaru, crying her eyes out. Tears were wetting his shirt as he holds her in the dark and dusty room. Looking up into the ceiling, he felt relieved but grieved at Ram's crying. He shed a silent tear, as the two sat there, clinging onto each other for dear life

_To be continued_

**Authors notes:**

**Epic chapter, hope you enjoyed! Discord code is gHuZ4TDKNZ, Have a fantastic day!**


	18. Chapter 17: Fishing

"Rem..."

Ram's tears wet Subaru's shirt as he looks down from the ceiling. He started speaking, "It was for the better. We would've all died had that not happened." Her sobs echoed through the now empty destroyed library. Reinhard stepped in as Subaru helped Ram down the steps to get to the first floor of the library.

"Is she going to be alright?" Reinhard asked with a worried tone in his voice. Subaru nods, "I think she will." Ram kept clinging to Subaru. Reinhard nods with a determined smile on his face. "I see. If you do not mind, I will be heading back now. Glad we made it out alive!" Subaru and Reinhard do a strong handshake as they both exit the destroyed library

Beatrice was waiting outside of Rem's room with her arms crossed as Subaru and Ram arrived. Ram entered her room as Subaru looked down at Beatrice. Seeing it coming, she asks. "What now, I suppose? Betty's library has been destroyed!" Subaru looked down at her with an evil grin. "Do you- want to sleep with me?" Beatrice stomps on the floor as she yells. "I'd rather sleep on the floor I suppose!" Roswaal then exits a nearby room hearing the commotion.

"I'll give you Rem's roooooom!" He says in his usual tone of voice. Beatrice pouts, "Hmph! Fine, I suppose." Beatrice grabs what she collected from her library as she walks toward the maid's room, sad that her library was torn to shreds. "Don't worry Beako, it will be new in no time!" Subaru yells at her as she gave no response, entering Rem's room.

Subaru then enters Ram's room, hoping that she's calmed down. "B-barusu?" Subaru heard Ram call his name in between sobs. "Ram, are you feeling any better?" he asks in a worried tone. Ram then scoffs, "I don't need you worrying about me Barusu." Subaru walked over to Ram's bed as she sits down and rolls his eyes.

"Jeez, I was just asking you. Anyways Ram… I want to cheer you up after what happened, so how about we do something with Beako to clear your minds?" Ram questions. "Like what?" Subaru thinks as an idea brewed up in his head. "Let's go fishing!" Ram hesitated slightly but quickly agreed. "If you insist that we go, then I have no choice."

Subaru got up, wanting to walk over to the door. He felt his hand get grabbed by Ram as she held it tight. Smiling, he said, "Let me get Beako too!". Subaru let go of her hand after a little and walked out of the room. Going to the neighboring room, he enters to see the drill haired loli sitting on a stool facing away from the door.

"Yo, Beako." Subaru makes his usual entrance as she turns around with her usual pouty face. "What do you want now, I suppose?" Subaru put his hands in his pockets as he shrugs. "I was just wondering; do you want to go fishing with me and Ram? We can use this opportunity to clear our minds!"

Beatrice squints her eyes as she gets up from her stool. "Fine, I suppose." Subaru smiles and nods. "Let's go Beako!" Subaru leads her out of the room as he thought, "I got her to comply pretty quickly! I guess she's warming up to me!"

The two enter Ram's room as she looks up seeing Subaru first. "How did it go Barusu?" Subaru gently smiles. "I got Beako to come along with us!" Beatrice pops in behind Subaru, looking at the pink haired maid. Ram nods and gets up. "Let's go, stupid Barusu" Subaru, Ram, and Beatrice all go to the storage room to try to find fishing rods.

Roswaal had some fishing rods in his possession, surprisingly good quality ones as well. Subaru grabs one that was orange as he passed other ones to Beatrice and Ram. "Hmmmm, does he have any bait?" Subaru thinks to himself. Subaru looks over to Ram. "Do we have any fish in the kitchen?" Ram nods. "Of course, Barusu. What do you ask for?" Subaru nods as he explains. "We need some for bait."

Subaru goes to the kitchen area of the mansion as he looks for the fish. Quickly finding it, he grabs a portion of it and cuts it up into pieces. He then puts it into a little plastic bag he found nearby as he walks back to the group that were waiting in the main hall. Smiling, he says, "Lets go then!" Both of them nod as Beatrice pouts, exiting the mansion.

"Ram, do you know of any lakes near here?" Subaru asks Ram while walking through the courtyard of the mansion. Ram nods and explains, "There's a large one near the left side of the mansion, lets go there!" She says. Ram leads the two to a perfect sized lake. Subaru nods and smiles, "This will work perfectly!" Beatrice squints her eyes looking up to Subaru. "How do you do this task, I wonder?"

Subaru's eyes widen. "Y-You've never been fishing before?!" Beatrice pouts. "Of course, I haven't! I have been locked up in that stupid library for 400 years, I suppose!" Subaru's face falls grim. "400?! Years?!" Beatrice quickly retracts as she says, "Ill explain it later, I suppose." Subaru, even though he wanted to ask more, backed down from interrogating her.

"Anyways…" Subaru leads Beatrice over to the lake with the small fishing rod in her hands. "So you grab the fishing rod, and you make sure you have bait on your hook!" Subaru pulls out a small pack of hooks he brought along from the storage. Opening it, he carefully grabs one of the hooks from the bunch. "Ok Beako, give me your line!" Beatrice watches with interest as Subaru ties the string's end to the hook.

"Make sure you carefully handle this! You don't want to have the hook stab you!" Beatrice nods as she watches Subaru put a piece of the cut fish on the end of hook, piercing it through the piece evenly. Getting up, he wipes his hands. "Ok Beako! I'll get Ram set up after I teach you what to do here." Subaru points to the water. "Flick your rod pointing at the water and let go of the string, and it should cast into the water"

Beatrice followed Subaru's words as the line gets launched surprisingly far and plops into the water. "Wow! That was a good cast, Beako!" Subaru said cheerfully. Beatrice lightly smiles. "What now, I suppose?" Subaru nods as he explains. "If you feel something pull on the string, grab that handle and reel it in by spinning it counterclockwise." Beatrice nods. "Ok, I suppose"

Subaru then set up Ram's rod as she heard Subaru's explanation. By then, she had a good idea as she threw her line into the water almost as far as Beatrice's "Wow, you guys now how to throw lines, I look pathetic!" Subaru holds his rod as he casts his line into the water, barely making it half the distance Ram and Beatrice landed their lines in. They both smirk as Subaru asks, "Wh-what?! I was just casting my line!" They share a small laugh as the group sits on the soft grass, patiently waiting for something to tug on their lines.

After a small moment, Beatrice perks up. "I think I caught something I suppose!" Beatrice starts pulling the rod back as the hook emerged from the water. Unfortunately, Beatrice reeled in a rusty can, as Subaru holds back his laughter. "Looks like you got unlucky Beako!" He says on the verge of laughter.

"Betty doesn't like being teased I suppose." Subaru started laughing as he felt something tug his line. Stopping, he started reeling in his line. "I think I got something!" He exclaims. The line had strain to it but it wasn't hard to reel in at all. At the end of his hook, he saw a fish. However, it was very small.

"Hah." Ram scoffed with a smug look on her face. Subaru's face turned slightly red. "Who's unlucky now I suppose?" Beatrice crosses her arms and smirks easily as Subaru scratches his cheek, looking down. "Karma is a pain…" he thinks to himself. Subaru thinks of a way to shoot back at Beatrice.

"Shut up, at least I caught a fish unlike you!" Hearing reeling noises behind him, he turns around to see Ram reeling in something that bent the rod down pretty far. "Look what I got Barusu!" She exclaims as a massive fish laid at the end of her hook. Subaru and Beatrice's eyes widen at the sight of the fish.

"Woah! You really caught that?!" Ram scoffs. "Of course I did, Barusu." She smirks as Subaru rolls his eyes. Beatrice casted her line once again as the two tried identifying what type of fish Ram reeled in. Hearing Beatrice reel, Subaru turned around to see what she got. However, she got another piece of trash. This time, it was a soggy boot that was children sized.

"Wow, you suck at fishing Beako." Subaru teases the girl as she playfully punches him. "You too I suppose!" She pouts while stomping on the grass. Subaru laughs as he feels something tug his fishing rod once again. "Oh- I got something! It feels heavy too!" Subaru starts to reel in what he caught. Emerging from the water, a big fish popped out. His eyes widen in excite.

But to his demise, the fish was dead. "Wh-What?!" Ram laughed at Subaru's bad luck as she said, "You must have killed it along the way, pathetic Barusu!" Subaru sighed as he looked at Ram. "At least I caught it!" He smirked at her face. "At least mine was alive!" She shot back. Subaru bonks Ram's head. "Come on!" Ram laughs while blushing. "Hah. Silly Barusu."

Everyone shared a fun moment while fishing. Beatrice caught some fish but more trash, Subaru caught a surprising amount of dead fish, and Ram was catching fish like a professional. After some time, Subaru started packing everything as they laid on the grass, the sun shining in the blue sky. Beatrice turns her head to Subaru. "By the way, I would like to teach you some of the magic as part of our contract I suppose."

Subaru remembers he promised Beatrice to learn magic with her in one of his loops. "Really? Thanks Beako, you're the best!" Getting up, the two stood facing each other. Ram sits up and watches the two. "Say Minya, I suppose" Subaru already knowing this, faces his palm upward. "Minya!" As usual, the mana shards generated with no struggle.

"Woah!" Subaru says trying to sound surprised. Beatrice nods, "Now focus on an object I suppose." Subaru looks at a nearby rock, shooting the shards at it. Nodding in fake surprise, Subaru then asks, "What else can I do?" Suddenly, Beatrice pouts. "I'm growing tired of you. Shamac, I suppose."

A black cloud emerges from Beatrice as it engulfs Subaru. Subaru is now standing in a black void, unable to move his body. "W-where am I? What did Beako do to me?!" He thinks as he looks around in the emptiness the void gave out. Everything then fades away as he is shown on the ground. In front of him, Beatrice had her arm out, looking like she pushed him.

"What did you do to Barusu?" Ram asked, a little worried. Beatrice flips her hair as she says, "Oh nothing much, I only shut him up I suppose." Beatrice snaps in front of Subaru, as he comes back to his conscious. "Can I do this too?!" He asked immediately. Beatrice nods, "You can I suppose. But don't do it here." Subaru nods and gets up as Beatrice pointed at Subaru.

"Murak, I suppose. Now jump." Subaru nods as he jumps. Subaru flew through the air as he remembers using this during the white whale battle with her. "I can do that too?!" She nods as she evilly smirks. "Vita, I suppose!" Subaru hears her cast the spell as he was sent crashing down to the ground. Ram scoffs at Subaru as he tries to get up, but he can't. It felt like something was holding him down.

"Is this the opposite of Murak?" Beatrice nods as she removes the spell. "Vita, huh?" Subaru got up as someone comes around the corner. "What are you guys up to?" Emilia spoke as Subaru looked at her. Ram also gets up. "What are you doing here, Miss Emilia?" Emilia started, "I heard from Roswaal that you were at the lake and I wanted to invite you guys to the beach, do you want to go?" Subaru's eyes gleam with excite. "Sure!" He says excitedly.

Beatrice crosses her arms as she asks, "Now why should I do that, I wonder?!" Emilia's crystal lights up green as Puck emerges. Subaru evilly smiles as Puck speaks. "Hey Betty, do you want to go to the beach with us?" Beatrice immediately softened up as she looked and Puck with puppy eyes. "Bubby..." she says with a blush on her face. Subaru looks back with an "ugh" face as Ram looks over to them.

"If both of you are going then I suppose I have no choice." Ram nods with a small smile on her face as Emilia takes them back to the mansion for them to get changed out. Subaru walks into his room and realized that he doesn't have a pair of swim shorts. He sweats as he thinks about what he should do.

"Yeeeeeees, Subaru?" Roswaal asks Subaru. With slight grimace on his face, he asks Roswaal. "Do you have any spear swimsuits by chance?" Roswaal nods. "I have some from when I was younger that I never wore!" Roswaal walks over to his clothing closet and comes out with a swimsuit. Handing it to Subaru, he thanks Roswaal.

Entering his room, Subaru saw someone in there already with the blinds drawn. "Huh?" Soon, he heard a scream. Ram was changing in his room as she covered her body. "My bad!" Subaru quickly closes the door as his eyes are wide open. After waiting a minute, she exits and slaps Subaru. "Ita! The hell was that for?!" He exclaims. "Pervert!" Ram scoffs. Subaru squints his eyes as he continues. "The hell were you changing in my room for? It's not my fault I walked in to see you naked!"

After everyone changed out, Subaru bids Roswaal farewell as Emilia leads them to the beach. Subaru tensed up, noticing the girls were in bikinis. "Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!" He repeats in his mind as he walks with them. Clearing his mind, they arrive at the beach as puck emerges from Emilia's crystal. "The beach? Yay!" Puck exclaims in joy.

Subaru lays on the sand looking up to the sky, as Ram and Emilia were playing in the water. Subaru dug through some of the sand that laid across the beach. He feels something like a rock, pulling it out revealed a seashell. "I found a seashell!" Emilia walked back from the water as she smiled. "Really? Let me see! Woah, that's pretty!" Subaru smiled back at her, giving it to her. "You can keep it!" She blushes, thanking Subaru.

"By the way Milli, do you happen to know where Beako went off to? I can't seem to find her." Subaru looked around a little as a voice came from behind him. "What do you want, I suppose?" Before Subaru could respond, Ram approached Subaru from the water. "Barusu, what is that you gave to Miss Emilia?" Subaru points at it. "Oh that? It's a seashell I found in the sand. Pretty, isn't it?" Subaru said with a soft smile

Ram shouts at Subaru. "It is not. It is almost as ugly as you. Stupid Barusu." Subaru's eyebrows raise at Ram's response. He notices Ram blushing, trying to hide it. Soon, another soft smile falls over his face. "Tsundere" he thinks to himself.

About an hour of playing around and silly conversations and fights, the sun starts to set. Subaru sits on the sand with a stick, drawing a small little smiley face with it. Emilia, Puck, and Beatrice all started to walk back to the mansion because it was about to become night. Subaru got up and noticed them starting to walk away. Ram approached him as he was looking back at the sun in the horizon, creating a calming reflection on the ocean's infinite water.

"This sunset sure is pretty." He says with a soft smile. Ram looks at Subaru with her shining red eyes. "It is…" Subaru felt her hand slip into his as she stepped closer to him. "About what I said earlier Barusu, I didn't mean it." Subaru blushed as he gave her a smile while pulling her in for a hug. "It's fine Ram."

Subaru and Ram sit down watching the sun fall through the horizon, turning the sky dark. They sat there cuddling for about an hour. Each of them enjoying their time, holding onto each other. "Ram, I think we should get going before they worry about us." Subaru says. Ram nods as they start to make their way back to the mansion.

"Why were you guys gone for so long? I was getting worried!" Emilia yelled at Subaru. "Don't worry about us, we were watching the sunset." Emilia sighs in relief and smiles. "I hope you enjoyed it! By the way Subaru, Beatrice wants to talk to you."

"Beatrice?"

Laying on the shore, they were beat. Weakened, and with half of their body bleeding, they rise up, spitting sand out of their mouth. "I.. I want to liv-" "SHUT UP STUPID BITCH! WORTHLESS COW, FOOL, I DESPISE YOU!" She started tearing up as she grabber her horn and tried to pull it off of her forehead, but it shocked her hand and cut it open. "DON'T TRY DOING THAT" Rem plops her face back down and starts crying. "Help…me"

_To be Continued_


	19. Chapter 18: Oni Horn

** Warning: This chapter contains some NSFW and sensitive content. Proceed with caution **

Rem's hand raises as she casts her healing magic to heal herself. "STUPID BITCH STUPID BITCH STUPID BITCH" The voice rang inside of her head, she tried grabbing her horn once again as it shocked her hand and cut deeper. "DON'T TRY DOING THAT YOU WHORE, ILL PUNISH YOU!" Rem started to cry as saltwater splashes into her eyes, turning the irises red. She started crawling across the sand as she saw a light from the mansion in the distance.

Closing the door behind him, Subaru stands in front of the drill haired loli as she turns around to look at him. "I have called you here to talk to you, I suppose!" She flips her hair with a sassy face as Subaru nods. "What do you want, Beako?" Beatrice pouts. "First of all, stop calling me that name I suppose!" Subaru nods and smiles. "As you wish, Rice Beater!" Beatrice pouts. "Just Betty, I suppose!" After their little argument cools down, she begins.

"I never got a chance to thank you, I suppose..." Subaru's eyes widen as he asks, "What do you mean Beako?!" Beatrice nods and explains. "Because of the contract we made, I was finally able to leave that library and that witch, I suppose" Beatrice tightened her hands into fists upon saying the words witch. Subaru's eyes widen. "W-witch?" He stepped back a little as she looked up at him with a slightly saddened face.

Rem crawls through the forest as she follows the path back to the mansion. "YOU DUMB AS COW, WHY ARE YOU GOING THERE? TO GET KILLED?!" The voice screamed into her head, racking her brain. She grabs her head as she hears something approaching her. A carriage with a bunch of dirty men with prickly beards peek out. "Hehe, look-ey what we have 'ere!" One of the men hop out of the car as they grab her and throw her onto the carriage as they start driving away.

Beatrice remembers the memories she had with a pink haired girl with a long cloak, a tall man with blue hair and formal attire, and a white-haired elf who was beautiful. Looking up to Subaru, she said, "I know the witch of greed… I was born 400 years ago and put under a contract by her. She told me to wait in that wretched library until 'that person' came to break the contract and to take me away.. and that person was you, I suppose…" Subaru was left speechless, looking down at the sitting loli.

"I-I don't know what to say Beatrice…" Subaru mutters as he noticed her getting up. "Don't be so utterly stupid, I suppose. But, thank you, thank you for helping me out of the hell I was stuck in for 400 years, I suppose!" She hugged Subaru as he stood frozen like a statue. This was very out of character for Beatrice to be doing to Subaru. He looked down at her as she realized what she was doing and pulled back.

"I-it wasn't that big of a deal, I suppose. 400 years was nothing!" She scoffed as Subaru smiled softly at her. "You're welcome Beako!" Beatrice pouts. "Did I not just tell you to stop calling me by that silly name, I suppose?" Subaru lifted her up and said. "Sorry Beako!" Beatrice starts to shake around while being held up as she shouts, "Vista!" Subaru collapsed onto the floor with Beatrice on top of him.

"She's a feisty one, ain't she. Hey! Stop moving ya dawg!" The men grabbed onto the weak Rem as she started screaming and crying as the men started unclothing her. "Shut yer trap!" One of the men slaps her across the face as more tears flowed down her face. The men started grabbing onto Rem's revealed breasts as she forced herself to be silent. The cracked horn on her head stopped glowing as the men started to remove her panties.

Subaru looked up at Beatrice's face, noticing they were surprisingly close, she quickly pulls away and gets up. With blushes on both of their faces, Beatrice shouts. "Don't be so reckless, I suppose!" Subaru gets up and adjusts his hair. "It's not my fault you casted that spell on me while I was carrying you!" Beatrice looks back at him with an evil grin. "It's not my fault you carried me, I suppose!" Subaru shoots back again. "It's not my fault Beako is so adorable, I suppose!" He mocks her as she opens her mouth to respond but can't, blushing.

Subaru quickly left the room saying goodbye before Beatrice could fling him out of the room. Upon closing the door, he feels a presence lingering behind him. "Hewo, Subaru-kyun, Nya!" Subaru felt his soul leave his body as he fell onto the floor from his freight. Felix laughed looking down at Subaru. "Don't be so siwwy Subawu!" Subaru sat up on his butt as he looked up at Felix. "That wasn't funny Felix, I could have had a heart attack!"

Felix's ears flick as he blushed. "You're so jumpy Subawu-kyun!" Subaru sighs as he continues. "What are you doing here this late at night anyways, Felix?" Felix smiles. "I was requested to heal Emilia after the fight in the forbidden library!" Subaru nods as he walks to the window looking at the moon. Felix joins him as they hear something from outside. The screams of a girl and rumbling of a carriage.

Subaru looks over to Felix. "Did someone get kidnapped?!" He asked him. Felix shrugged while putting on a confused face. "None the matter, we can go assess the situation. Gimme you're hand!" Felix grabs Subaru's hand. "Murak!" Subaru and Felix both fly through the window as Beatrice flung them through it from the door across. "Thank me later, I suppose!" She pouts.

Subaru and Felix fly through the night sky as Subaru leans downward toward the running carriage. They heard the screams of the girl continue as they heard voices of scrawny men struggle. "I-is she being ra-" Subaru stopped himself as the two crashed into the carriage, splitting it in half as the men flew out. Multiple thumps were heard as the dust from the dirt caused settled. The light that fell out of the carriage illuminated the dark area as Subaru sits back up.

The men get up brushing the dirt off their pants, which were half down. Subaru looked at them as they pulled their pants back up with a look of rage and annoyance in their face. "The hell you do that for?!" One of the men shouted. "We was tryna get some shankin' in!"

Subaru rolled his eyes as he faces his palm upward as he generates shards of crystals. "Piss off" Subaru said with a shrug. The men immediately ran away in fear of the man, leaving the person they were assaulting behind. Subaru looked at Felix as he was looking down at something with shock in his eyes.

Subaru turned, "What's wrong Feli-…x" Subaru turned around to see a small but dim purple light flashing from a figure who was slowly getting up. The light on the floor shone upon their face as Rem rose.

Her eyes were bloodshot red, with dried blood and tears on her face. Subaru looked at her with widened eyes as she screamed. "Subaru! Help me! Pleas- SHUT UP YOU STUPID WHORE CUM SLUT BITCH" Subaru's eyes widen at the words coming out of her mouth. "YOU ASSHAT I MIGHT BE KILLED NOW THAT YOU CAME ACROSS THEM" Subaru was quivering slightly. "R-Rem!" Subaru stepped back as he put his hand on his face. Coming to the realization, it was like there was someone else that was talking from Rem that was not her.

Subaru tended up even more as his face suddenly fell red., she noticed her breasts were exposed along with her panties that were pulled down. Looking over to Felix, his face is red as well. "D-don't look at me like I know anything!" He yells, looking back at Subaru. After some flickering of her cracked horn, it stopped flashing as it glowed purple. Rem stopped crying and screaming as her facial expression completely changed.

Subaru's confusions were soon subsided. Rem was not evil herself, the horn damage she took from Beatrice caused her horn to damage her brain and corrupt her mind. Rem saw Subaru's gaze at her chest as the person who took over Rem's mind spoke. "What? You like these?" Rem then leans forward and pushes together her breasts with a lewd smile on her face.

Subaru stepped back as his face was red. "Wh-who the hell are you and why are you taking her body?" Rem responds. "Does that truly matter to you? ~" Rem looked over to Felix and walked up to him. "Felix!" Subaru yelled. The grey orb from before appeared, but this time it seemed to be in a smaller range. Rem captured Felix in the time freeze within the orb as she walked up to him and breathed into his ear, pressing her breasts up against him.

Subaru watched as a look of anger appeared over his face. "The hell are you doing?!" the orb shrinks as Felix's face turned red. Rem then punched through Felix's stomach, his guts spilled out slowly as he quickly healed himself. "That was close!" Felix sighed in relief.

"Minya!" Subaru sent a large wave of shards at Rem, but she seemed to dodge them at a decent pace. Smirking slightly, she says. "C'mon honey, try something new!" Subaru stepped back as he remembered her ability to make people explode and freeze within time earlier that day.

Reminding himself to stay distant from her, he thinks, "If I can get one shot on her horn, maybe that can do something!" He saw Felix sneaking up behind her slowly. Rem, not noticing this, felt a kick on her back, sending her into Subaru as they crashed to the floor.

Subaru's face was in between Rem's breasts. "Wh-WHAT THE HELL?!" Subaru felt something in his stomach. "Butterflies? Fuck, not now- wait a second this feels way more intense than butterflies" Subaru felt like something was cutting through his stomach from inside of him. He felt as if his energy went up significantly as Rem suddenly was thrown into the sky.

Rem was being held by the stomach by a purple hand. Subaru's eyes widen as he looks down at his stomach. Emerging from him, the hand was clutching onto Rem. By instinct, another one emerged from his back and grabbed Rem's horn and ripped it off of her head. Subaru got up as the hands lowered to his level. Suddenly, the horn started to electrocute and flash. The hands then barrage the horn at insane speeds. The horn split into a million pieces as the pieces materialized into red orbs and dissolved.

Subaru felt a great pain as he spat blood onto the dirt. Felix quickly rushed over to him and kneeled. A blue orb generated from his hand, glowing faintly. Subaru's pain almost immediately subsided as he stands back up. "Thanks, Felix." Subaru says. The two walk over to the collapsed Rem, as Felix kneels down to observe her.

Pulling her bra back over her breasts with a blush on his face, he starts by putting his hand on her forehead, noticing the now severed horn on her forehead. He starts, "Her horn has been severed twice, I'm guessing?" Subaru nods. "Yes, Beako severed it and now I did with…" Subaru looked down at his stomach as he wonders to himself.

Felix continues. "She's received brain damage from the horn being cut off the first time, meaning that her brain damage must have caused the weird behavior along with the sudden aggressiveness toward you." Subaru looked down at the laid down Rem. "Is there a way to save her?" Subaru asked Felix. Subaru fell into a hopeful look when Felix nodded. "I have to be very precise with this though, Subaru-kyun. "

He nods. "You got this, Felix!" Felix started by getting a firm grip on the severed horn and used a bit of his healing orb while pulling it out. It started rumbling as the base was slowly sliding out. Once it did, blood and veins spilled out of her forehead, but Felix quickly healed it in the matter of seconds. Feeling Rem's pulse, Felix looked up at Subaru with a smile. "Done!" He gleamed as Subaru's eyes widen.

"Does that mean she should be ok now?" Felix nods. "I removed the horn, meaning her power is now extremely limited. She still is strong, but all of her powers like summoning the horn and that grey orb that stopped movements are all far gone now!" Subaru smiled brightly as he picked up Rem. "Let's go take her back then!"

Subaru and Felix started to walk back to the mansion. "Boy, I'm going to have to tell one hell of a story when I get back there." Subaru said with a small laugh. Felix smiled. "Don't worry, I know she's been fired from the mansion because of an attack she made on you. I'll explain the situation to them." Subaru nods. "I owe you for this one, Felix."

Walking up the mansion's steps, they open the front doors. Upon entering, a tall figure stood before them. The two looking up at his blue hair and clown-like makeup, he spoke. "Why heellllo Subaru! May I ask, why do you have Rem in your arms?" He said in a passive aggressive tone. Subaru tensed up as he started to break a small sweat. Felix stepped in and explained the situation to Roswaal.

"Sir Roswaal, me and Subar-kyun stepped in and saved Rem from being raped. We also managed to figure out the true reasons behind her malicious behavior. The horn she grew had caused her brain damage, so that is why she was acting so aggressive toward Subaru from the start. I removed the horn and healed the built-up damage in her brain, so please, welcome her back into the mansion! Nya!"

Felix bowed down in plea. Roswaal put his hand on his chin as he responds. "I will let her stay vacant here and explain herself…" Roswaal then abruptly walked away. Subaru nodded at Felix as they started walking up the steps and down the hall. Subaru looked at the doors and then recognized one to be the door to Ram's room.

Ram was sitting on the bed holding a flower that her and Rem picked out when they were younger. She remembered her voice in her head. "Sister, sister, look at this flower! Its color matches my hair!" Ram had tears falling down her cheeks as she held the flower close to her. Suddenly, she heard a bang and the door hitting the wall from being swung open.

Flipping around to see who was entering her room, she saw Subaru with a relieved look on his face.

"We saved her, Ram…"

_To be Continued_


	20. Chapter 19: Sin Archbishop

"Ram, we saved her."

Ram looked back to the door. Subaru was holding Rem in his arms with a stern look on his face. Ram spoke. "S-saved who? My little sister?" Subaru shook his head up and down, responding. "Yes. Felix healed her." The tears in Ram's eyes started falling as he handed Rem to Felix, putting her on Ram's bed.

Ram rushes over to Subaru with open arms. He catches her in a spin around with tears of joy falling from her eyes as she pulled herself onto his chest. "T-thank you for saving my sister, Barusu!" The tears wet his shirt as he strokes her hair. He smiles looking at her face washed with tearful joy. "You're welcome Ram. C'mon, let's go see Rem."

Subaru and Ram walk over to Felix who is sitting by Ram's bed with Rem in it. "I'm trying to wake her up right now…" Felix had his hand on her chest as his eyes were closed. He opened them suddenly as he removed his hand from Rem, looking down at her. Subaru and Ram tense up in anticipation, looking down at the blue haired maid.

Slowly, Rem's eyes started to open as her breathing grew loud. Ram had tears in her eyes as she mumbled. "R-rem?!" Rem looked over at Ram as she exclaims. "S-sister?!" Subaru smiled as he witnessed the reunion. Rem jumps out of the bed and hugs Ram as they both shed tears of joy.

Felix walks over to Subaru with a smile on his face. "We make a pretty good team, Subaru-kyun!" Felix winked as Subaru smirked. "Hell yeah we do!" The two smiled, watching them embrace each other in worried happy and warm tears.

"I-I'm so happy to see you!" Rem starts. Ram wipes tears from her eyes as she mumbles. "I am too. As much as I hate to say it, most of the credit goes to Barusu for this." Rem looked over at the man in the orange and black tracksuit. When they made eye contact, Subaru looked away and whistled a little tune. Felix bumped Subaru with his elbow as he coughs.

"I must thank him!" Rem said with a smile. Collecting herself, she walks up to Subaru as he looks down at her. "T-thank you for saving me Subaru! Rem sincerely apologizes for trying to kill you… and taking you and sister away…" Subaru saw a face of guilt wash over Rem's face as he puts a hand on her shoulder with a smile. "It's alright Rem. I'm glad you're safe." Rem blushed at his response as she smiled in return.

After looking back at Ram, she spoke. "Barusu, could you leave us alone for a minute?" Subaru nods and starts to walk out of the room, Felix behind him. "Sure. I do have something to talk to Beako about anyways..." The door shut as Ram looked back at Rem with a smile as they fell to the floor, crying onto each other .

Subaru proceeds to walk into Rem's room to find the yellow haired loli. Making his entrance, Beatrice was looking at the door, as if she was waiting for someone to walk through. Subaru freaked out a little when he saw her looking straight into his eyes as soon as he opened the door. This messed up his classic hello line to Beatrice

"Yo-" he stopped as Beatrice begins to speak. "You come in here without knocking? You are a very rude man I suppose. What do you want anyways?" Subaru remembered the purple hand emerging from his stomach and another from his back. He tries his best to describe it to Beatrice. "About earlier. While I was saving Rem, I noticed a purple hand sprout out of my chest."

Beatrice's eyebrows raised a little when she heard this. "It would appear that you have gained the Authority of Sloth I suppose." Hearing this, Subaru put a mixed face that shouted "That sounds cool as hell, but what does it even mean?" Beatrice squinted her eyes as if she read his mind.

"When Betelgeuse died, the witch factor chose you to be its next owner." Subaru looked down at his stomach and gently placed his hand over it. "Why would it choose me?" Beatrice shrugged as she mumbled, "Meh, I don't know." Subaru thought of her words as he asked another question. The answer to this question gave Subaru a pathway to becoming a king.

"What are these witch factors anyways?"

Beatrice started. "They are powers that used to be held by witches and now Sin Archbishops, I suppose." Subaru had a surprised face. "Wait, there are multiple Sin Archbishops?!" Beatrice nodded as she held up 4 fingers. "In fact, there are still 4 other Sin Archbishops." Subaru stepped back a little as an idea snapped in his head.

"Wait, you're saying there's still four of them remaining?!..." Subaru fell into thought for a short moment. "I know Ros is going to be mad at me for doing something like this… but if we are able to pull this off, we can completely rid of the Witch Cult!" Subaru finished his thought as he clapped his hands together and snapped, pointing at Beatrice. "Let's go, Beako!"

"Where to, I suppose?" Subaru looks back at the door as he held her hand to get her up from the stool she was sitting from. "A voyage."

Subaru and Beatrice exit Rem's room as Beatrice asks. "Where are we going, this is all so sudden, I suppose!" Walking into Ram's room, the two where sitting next to each other having a small conversation as they stopped to see Subaru and Beatrice at the door. " Ram, could you get me a dragon-drawn carriage to go to the guard station?"

"What for?" Ram tilted her head in wonder. "I need to talk to Julius about something." Ram got up from the bed as she nods and gives a small smile. "If you insist." Rem looks at Subaru with a smile as well. "May I go as well, Subaru?" He responds with excite. "Yeah, sure Rem!"

"Just one moment, I suppose!" Subaru looked down at Beatrice as she asked. "What was that 'voyage' thing you talked about, I suppose?" Subaru looked sharply at Beatrice. After a small pause of silence, Subaru sighed. "I wasn't supposed to tell you guys this so soon, but I was planning to grab all of you and go eliminate all of the sin archbishops and save this country from terror." Subaru expected his proposal to be laughed at, but nothing came.

Ram and Rem looked at each other as Beatrice flipped her hair. Subaru then said. "We wont be alone of course. That's why I want to go to talk to Julius so he can grab a few people to come with us." Ram started to nod slowly along with Rem. "Considering you killed a sin archbishop that was deemed a threat to us, I guess your stupid proposal has caught my interests." Ram explains as her sister nodded in agreement with her sister.

"You guys are going to come then?" Ram and Rem get up and nod.

"Not unless you bring me along too!"

Subaru turned around see Frederica at the door who heard the whole explanation, with a sharp toothed smile. Subaru looked at her with a nervous smile.

Subaru, Ram, Rem, Beatrice, and Frederica all gather up at the entrance hall. "As you guys are aware, it takes about half a day to get to the capital. If we go now and get rest in the carriage, we will arrive by noon tomorrow." The group nodded as Subaru remembered one thing. "Wait just one min-"

"What are you guys doing gathered up here?"

Emilia walked down the stairs as if interrupting Subaru's plans to go get her. Subaru looked over at her with a smile. "Mili! I was just about to go get you! I'll explain everything to you when we board the carriage. Go pack what you need for one day!" Emilia hesitantly went back upstairs to pack her stuff in a hurry.

Coming back down the staircase, Subaru smiled as she approached the group. "Otto should be outside waiting for us, right Ram?" Ram nodded. "Of course, stupid Barusu." Subaru smiled, as it no longer hurt to be called stupid by Ram.

"Now, whaaaaaaaaat do we have here?" Subaru looked over at Roswaal as he and some of the group tensed up. "We are going on a voyage, I suppose" Beatrice spoke from the group with no fear. Emilia fumbled with a slight amount of nervousness. "To do what?" Roswaal asked aggressively. "So we can eliminate all of the sin archbishops of the witches cult, I suppose. Just await your return like you awaited throughout these 400 years with me"

Roswaal's face fell into an angry expression. "And why are myyyyyyyyy workers leaving me?" Beatrice scoffs as she yells. "Did you not hear me just now, I wonder? We are coming back! Now, let's go I suppose!" Beatrice grabs Subaru's hand and leads them to the door. Upon trying to open it, it would not budge.

"I won't allow you to do that!" Roswaal summoned 4 balls of different colors around his hand as he launches a large one created by the four at them. Everyone jumped out of the way as the door exploded. Roswaal furiously started flinging explosive magic everywhere. Fire caught across the mansion as he continued.

"Sheesh, what's taking them so long?" Otto looked over at the mansion from the carriage as he heard an explosion from the mansion and an orange light flashing against the window. "What's going on in there?!" He said with a worried look on his face. Suddenly, Subaru and all of the others flew out of the mansion, running toward the carriage. Otto looked at the scene in shock, noticing the door was blown off to the mansion. Everyone quickly boarded as Subaru hopped into passenger without thinking. "Step on it, Otto!" Otto screamed as he whipped the land dragon. It started running at an alarming pace, sensing the nearby danger.

Subaru looked behind them as no one came. Suddenly, an explosion of orange appeared form the distance as he heard the noise of flames crackling and smoke taking over the nights sky. Everyone witnessed the explosion as shock fell across everyone's face. "Welp, that's not something you see every day."

"Subaru! What is the reason behind all of this?!" Emilia yelled from the carriage after everyone settled down. "We are on our way to the capital to talk to Julius and eliminate the witch cult from any point of return!" Subaru proclaimed. "But I advise you get some rest because we won't have time to rest that much!" Emilia nodded as everyone settled in.

Rem passed out underneath a small blanket next to Ram. Beatrice sat against the window with her arms crossed, watching the scenery pass by. Emilia leaned against the carriage's soft walls while sitting, dozing off. Subaru and Otto were at the driver's seat, talking. Ram poked at Subaru's cheek as she smiled softly. "Goodnight, sir Barusu" teasing him, he rolled his eyes. "Goodnight Ram."

"We have arrived!" Rem's voice rang through Subaru's hearing as he opens his eyes to the shining sun and blue eyes. He felt his head on something soft and nice. "Mr. Natsuki! My legs are numb! Can you please get your head off my lap?" Subaru jolted awake as he got up. "Agh! Sorry Otto! I'll pay you extra!" Subaru dropped 2 bags of coins from his luggage as Otto's eyes widen. "Thanks!" He exited the carriage with the group.

"By the way Barusu, what are you going to talk to Julius about?" Ram asked. Subaru responded, "Don't worry about it!" Emilia pointed at the guard station building as Subaru walked over to it. Surprisingly, Julius was just exiting the building.

"I didn't expect to see you again so soon. What brings you here?" Julius said with a welcoming smile toward Subaru. "I have a proposal. I want to go on an adventure killing all Sin Archbishops!" Julius stepped back as his eyes widen slightly. "Is that so? That would be quite the task…" Subaru continued. "I've seen your power and you a truly incredible knight, I'm sure we'll win if all of us go!" Julius thought for a little as he asked Subaru.

"And where would we go to find these cultists?" Subaru pointed out the yellow haired loli in his group. "She should know a lot about where they could be!" Julius thought for a little longer as he lowered his shoulders and nodded. "That does sound like a good idea. I have decided I will help you. I will report to my administrator saying that an emergency has come up that will take multiple days to assess for. As for you…"

"You have one day to prepare."

Volume 4 end


	21. Chapter 20: Our Voyage Begins

Julius turns his back as he starts to walk back toward the guard station. Subaru walked back to the group of 5, waiting for him. Giving a comforting smile to everyone, he says. "Come on everyone, we only have a day to prepare!" Emilia shined with a smile. "I have an idea! How about we all get new outfits?" Subaru looks at her with excitement.

"No thank you Miss Emilia."

"Sure!"

Subaru looked at the twins mid-sentence as Beatrice then spoke. "Betty doesn't need a new outfit I suppose." Subaru groans. "You too Beako?! Why not guys, it could be nice" Rem responds with a small smile. "The uniforms me and my sister wear are all that we need." Emilia spoke from the group, reassuring Rem. "Remember Rem, we're going on a voyage, you don't want your clothes to get messy!" Emilia pointed at her as she spoke.

Bowing down, she responds. "If you insist… Miss Emilia." "If Rem agrees then I have no choice." Ram went along with her sister as Emilia nodded. Subaru gave Emilia a thumbs up, turning to Beatrice. "Yes! What about you Beako?" Beatrice scoffs as usual. "I'll pass, I suppose." Subaru, although disappointed, went along with her decision. Frederica then spoke, nodding. "Sure, it would be nice to get a refreshing outfit!"

"By the way you two, you guys don't need to refer to me as Miss Emilia anymore." The group were on their way to the clothing section of the capital, as Emilia was speaking to the two sisters. "What for?" Ram asks. Emilia had a flashback to the explosion they encountered when they initially left the mansion, seeing it seemingly explode in the background. "We have detached ourselves as Roswaal's workers, so there's no need to be so formal."

Ram looked down with a small shred of sadness as Rem nodded with a worried expression. "I wonder what are we going to do now that we have left where we have left forever?" Subaru looked back at Rem after those words. "I'll find a way to asses that… We can buy a mansion of our own once we claim the Witch Cult's assassination, where we can all live peacefully with no threats." Rem looked back at Subaru with a blush on her face. "S-Subaru-sama! That would be very nice!" Subaru smiled. "I'll make it happen…

No matter what."

After about an hour at the clothes stand, Subaru leads the group somewhere. "Where are you taking us, I suppose?" Asks Beatrice. Subaru responds without looking back. "The motel." Frederica looked at Subaru confused. "A motel? Wh-" Subaru interrupts her. "It's going to be for one night, so at least we will have a bed to sleep on peacefully for one more day." Subaru responds as Frederica blushed a little at his response.

"Two 2-bed rooms, and one 1-bed room please!" Subaru said, dropping a bag of coins for the day's stay. The cashier smiles. "Have a good rest, folks!" Subaru then leads everyone to their rooms. Subaru and Ram would be sharing a room (obviously), Rem and Beatrice will be sharing a room, and Emilia once again will be having her own. "Emilia, is it alright that you will be sleeping by yourself once again? Are you sure you don't want me to take that room?"

Emilia smiles back at Rem. "No worries, I'll be alright!" Beatrice squints her eyes. "I guess I'll spend the night with her, I suppose." Beatrice crosses her arms as Rem smiles at her. "Thank you, Miss Beatrice" Rem bows as they proceed into their rooms.

Subaru sets his new clothes down as Ram does the same on her bed. "Barusu, I would like to see your new choice of clothing!" Ram put her hands together with a small smirk as Subaru nodded. "You want me to head to the other room or-" Ram interrupts him. "Barusu, don't be stupid, I'm not a pervert." Subaru rolled his eyes as he looked at her nervously.

Subaru sighed as he started by removing his tracksuit. Ram observed him while doing this, as Subaru noticed. _"What a hypocrite."_ Subaru then slowly removes his shirt with his back turned. Ram's face turned slightly red, seeing Subaru's decently built body.

Subaru, back in his original world, was a Japanese shut-in. He would sit inside during a lot of his free time, bored out of his mind. He would pick up things like swinging a sword around, doing daily exercise, playing games, and watching anime. This all was inspired by his hard headed and cheerful father.

Subaru turned his head back at Ram too see her staring at him. Turning around, he revealed his front as Ram scoffed looking away with a blush written on her face. "Don't present your pathetically frail body to me, Barusu." Subaru smiled and laughed a little as she looked down pensively. He grabbed the white shirt. It was comfortable on him, and the fabric felt soft to the touch. Subaru grabbed the belt that came with it and wrapped it around the shirt and tightened it.

 _"Just like the person running the stand told me to…"_ Subaru thought. He was not used to dressing this way. He then put on the green vest that came with it over his white shirt. "That's definitely an improvement, Barusu. Oh, and one more thing." Ram pulls out Subaru's cloak from her belongings and buttoned it to his neck.

Subaru posed, giving a thumbs up to Ram. "Do I look good?" Ram scoffed. "Your outfit does not lack appearance; however, your pathetic face stays the same as always." Subaru noticed the blush still inscribed on her face. Subaru and Ram were still at face to face level, looking into each other's eyes. Subaru felt a blush appear on his face as Ram stared at him with a blank emotion. Subaru knew what to do, as he wrapped his arms around her and met his lips with hers.

A knock came at the door as Subaru released the kiss quickly. "Subaru? Are you in there? I want to show you my new outfit!" They heard Emilia speak through the door. Ram looked up at him with a pouty face, obviously getting frustrated that they stopped. "I'm coming Mili! I have mine on too!" Subaru approached the door, seeing Emilia in her new outfit.

She wore white boots, thigh high leggings, and a purple dress that reached lower than her previous more well-known dress. On top of all of that, she wore a white robe, with a purple cat ear hood. Subaru smiled as Emilia observed his outfit. "I like your outfit, Subaru! The combination looks nice!" She blushed at Subaru's response. "I love yours too, it matches your beauty!"

Ram perked up as Emilia blushed in response. "Th-thank you Subaru!" She said. Subaru nodded. "I'll be out along with you guys in a moment. Right now, I need to finish my looks." Emilia nodded as she waved. Subaru closed the door, turning around to see Ram facing back with her arms crossed. Subaru looked at her puzzled. "What's the matter Ram?"

"I don't need you worrying about me, Barusu." Subaru realized the message she was trying to convey through her tsundere words. Subaru smiled and replied. "It was just a compliment, Ram. It's ok" He wrapped his arms around her from behind as she turned around at him, with an angry face. Their lips met again. The kiss kept lasting, Ram felt something wet push into her mouth, pressing up against her teeth,

Subaru was entering his tongue into Ram's mouth. Reluctantly, she allowed it as their tongues met. After a small confusion of swishing around, they learned each other's body language and taste. Falling onto the bed, they had their tongues hugging each other for minutes. After realizing how long they've been going at it, Subaru releases as a line of spit connected their tongues. Feeling each other's warm breathes, Subaru held Ram in a hug. "Disgusting Barusu, go die." Subaru smiled gently.

 _"I love you too, Ram."_ He thought to himself. They got up as Subaru left the room to let Ram change. "Meet us at the lobby!" Subaru exits, as he runs into Beatrice who was standing near their door. "Yo, Bea-"

"Enjoying your time with the older maid, I suppose?" She smirked evilly as Subaru's face turned red with embarrassment. "Ah- Beako! Where you spying on us?" Beatrice shook her head. "You smell of her, I suppose. The blue haired maid will definitely notice." Subaru blushed and rolled his eyes. "Like that's a problem to me, let's go Beako." Beatrice scoffed as she followed him down to the lobby of the motel.

Upon their arrival, they saw Emilia, Rem, and Frederica all talking in a group. Rem looked at Subaru and waved at him with a smile. She wore a pink hood that reached to rear-level. She then had a maiden's-like top on, with a short pink skirt, and soft brown boots. Subaru smiled. "Hey Rem!" Rem's face then changed a little after Subaru greeted her. "What's wrong Rem?" She looked away, looking ashamed.

"Rem smells her sister on Subaru…" Subaru heard the almost sad tone in her voice as he looked at her in confusion. Quickly finding a way to ease her, he lied. "Ram threw her clothes at me, sorry!" He quickly saved the situation as Rem seemed to look almost relieved. Subaru was taken by surprise at her quick reaction. Frederica then noticed Subaru as she waved him over.

Frederica did not change much, she wore a black hood over a black and dark yellow dress. Everything else seemed to stay the same. "Looking good, Frederica!" Subaru nodded and smiled as she responded with a blush. "Thank you!" Rem looked to her left as the group notice Ram making her appearance. She wore an outfit exactly like Rem's, but her hood and skirt were aqua.

Subaru blushed at her beauty as Ram saw his gaze at her. She scoffed, "Is this good enough for your pathetic eyes, Barusu?" Subaru shrugged as Emilia asked. "What are we going to do now, Subaru? It's almost time for the sun to set." Subaru smiled as he proclaimed. "Let's have a night out!" Subaru pointed to the sky as everyone stood silent. "What's a night out?" Emilia asked. Subaru fell over it disbelief as everyone looked at him with confused glances.

After Subaru explained to them, they exited the motel and walk through the city. "What are you wanting to do with all of us present, Barusu?" Subaru explained. "We can go do things like watch the sunset, go for dinner, and get drinks. Have a fun time, y'know! Look, an open field that lands right where the sunset will take place!" He pointed out the large field as he leads everyone to there.

They all sat on the grass while talking amongst each other. Subaru sat by himself as he watched the sun set against the horizon, in his own thoughts and feelings. Rem walked up to him slowly in order to not surprise him. "Rem would like to speak to you, Subaru." Subaru nodded as he gets up and distant themselves from everyone else. "What is it, Rem?"

"I would like to apologize!" Subaru tilted his head ever so slightly in confusion. "You already apologized to me Rem…" Rem put her hands together up to her face. "Properly…" Rem continues. "I'm very sorry about the horn possessing her mind and actions, I'm also is very sorry I sexually assaulted you and Felix. Rem is sorry that I put you and sister's lives at risk along with all the others. I sincerely apologize, that you had to go through all that to save me…" Rem looked to be in the verge of tears, feeling the guilt and pain and feelings boil in her all at the same time.

Subaru grabbed Rem's hand as she looked up at him with teary eyes. "Rem, what's in the past is in the past. All I feel right now is happiness that you got to reunite with your sister. I'm glad that you got a second chance of living your life and experiencing your relationships once again fully, I'm glad that I get to see you smile again, and get to be yourself." Subaru grabs her hand tighter as tears fully run down her cheeks.

"Th-the fact of everything that I've done and that I'm a demon, an incompetent one at that, it doesn't bother you?" Subaru smiles. "Of course it doesn't, Rem. It's something that I find wonderful about you!" Rem started crying as she fell to her knees, still holding onto Subaru's hand. "Th-thank you, Subaru!" He smiles as he lets her have her moment of happiness.

As the sun sets, the group enjoy a night full of silly fights, conversations, drinking and eating happily. Around midnight, the group head back to the motel and walk through the hallway to their room. "Goodnight, Emilia, Rem, Beako, Frederica!" Subaru bid goodnight to his group, wishing them well rest for tomorrow. Ram looked at Subaru as they walked back into their room.

"I need a bath, I feel gross." Subaru said with a sigh as he grabs a towel from his bag. "Don't take too long, Barusu." Subaru nodded as he brought his robe in along with his towel. Subaru got into the bath and sank into the warm-hot water. He sighed in relief as he relaxes with his eyes closed. Letting his thoughts run, he recalled Rem thanking him emotionally. This brought a wholesome and soft smile to is face.

Exiting the bath with his robe on, Ram had a towel wrapped around her. "I thought you would have drowned, stupid Barusu." She rushes into the bathroom, leaving the situation before it got more tense. Subaru fell onto bed and turned against the wall again, slowly fading to sleep.

He then awoke to Ram sliding into bed with him. "Barusu, have you awoken?" Subaru did not respond, wanting to see what would happen. Ram then sighed and wrapped her arms around him and held him close to her. Subaru then suddenly reversed roles, as he spins her around and spooned her. "Stupid Barusu, don't surprise me like that, pervert." Subaru scoffed as his breath went against her neck, making her twitch a little. The couple fall asleep, getting rested for the events of the next morning.

"First stop is Lye Batenkaitos, the Sin Archbishop of Gluttony, correct?" Julius asked Subaru. He nodded. "That would be correct according to the hints Beako gave me!" Subaru was boarded on the carriage. Otto in the driver's seat, Subaru and his group sitting in different positions, along with Julius. Beatrice spoke up. "Reports of a man who had long hair, short, and weird face had been coming up around a small town near here, I suppose."

Julius nods with a stern face. "I see."

Ram turns to Subaru as she starts. "Barusu, will you be of any use or will you just be useless?" Subaru sighed and responded. "I can only do spells that Beako had contracted me to." Ram smirked and responded. "Useless Barusu." Otto peeked through the window against the driver's side. "Are we ready, Mr. Natsuki?" Subaru looked sternly at him. "Let's do this, Otto!"

Frederica spoke. "I hope this goes well for all of us." Subaru looked over to Emilia and Rem, who seemed to be worried at the situation they are dragging themselves into. The carriage starts moving as Subaru tries to lighten up their moods. "Look here! A ten edged yen coin! A rare one upon all the coins in this land!" Emilia and Rem looked up confused.

"Now watch as I grasp it in my hands, tight, tight, tight!" Rem and Emilia watched intrigued about what Subaru was doing. "Now, where did it go?" He opened his hand to reveal the coin had disappeared. Emilia and Rem gasped in surprise as Rem asked. "Where did it go?" Subaru turned to Rem as he put his hand in her hair.

"What'cha got here?" Subaru supposedly pulled the coin out of her hair as her eyes widened, shining blue. "Subaru! That was amazing!" Emilia also said excitedly. "How did you do that?!" Subaru then used his other hand and pulled out another coin from her hair. Beatrice scoffed along with Ram, as Frederica watched in interest as well.

Subaru kept presenting his modern day magic that people would have easily exposed in the modern world. Julius then spoke into the group. "It appears that we are almost to where he was last seen." Otto looked back as everyone proceeded to exit the carriage. They walked around the empty and creepily abandoned village. It was dead quiet, the windows were broken, showing nothing but pitch black in the insides.

Subaru saw a dark figure dash by a road down. He tensed up as he yelled to everyone.

"Everyone, prepare yourselves!" They all stood around in the circle as they observed their surroundings. "Ahhh! I keep eating and eating, but it's never enough! I eat, I devour, I chew, I bite, I gnaw, I munch, I crunch, I savor, pure gluttony!" Getting straight to the point, A man with tan skin, long hair, and overly big, baggy eyes approached them. "Bless me, Lye Batenkaitos, the Sin Archbishop of Gluttony, for receiving this delightful meal" He licked his lips as he stared into Subaru's soul.

_To be continued_


	22. Chapter 21: Gluttony and Greed

"Who are you?! Explain yourself!" Rem shouts from the circled-up group as Lye spoke. "A Sin Archbishop of the Witch's Cult, representing Gluttony, my name is Lye Batenkaitos!" He slowly spoke, small green pupils looking straight into Subaru's soul although responding to Rem. Slowly pacing, he was walking closer and closer to Subaru. Subaru put his hand up and looked back at everyone. "Attack now!" Everyone split up quickly as multiple spells were casted. Lye quickly dashes toward Ram as she screamed. "Al Fura!"

Lye saw the huge blade of wind dashing toward him, however, he blocked it with force, as he was sent back a little. "H-huh?!" Subaru saw Lye quickly shielding the magic like nothing as he focused his attention on Subaru, licking his lips and dashing toward him. "I will not allow you to do that!" Julius intervened his path and clashed into him. Julius swung his sword as he was blocking it with the blades attached to his wrists.

After a moment of attacks being blocked, Lye jumped from building to building, launching at Julius at random intervals. It was nearly impossible to keep track of the man, yet Julius was able to block attacks he shot at him from random directions. Lye launched at Julius, thinking he got a perfect spot to attack him. However, Julius hit him across the face with his sword, making a small cut on his cheek. "What spirit! I'm certainly going to enjoy this feast!"

Subaru held his palm up as he shouted. "El Minya!" Many shards appeared around him as he tried his hardest to focus on Lye's incredible speed. Finding places to hit him while making his attacks on Julius, Subaru sent a wave of shards at him all-the-while Julius parried one of his attacks.

The shards hit him successfully, however, they seemed to have no effect on him. Subaru was sent in a confused state again, noticing the attack he sent toward Lye only stunned him momentarily. Lye quickly regained his pace as Rem was slowly approaching the fight from a distance. "Al Cranvel!" Suddenly, Julius started to move at the same speed as Lye was. Julius swung his sword while running at him. However, he quickly blocked the attacks with his blades.

Buildings started to collapse around them, as the sword attacks were missing and hitting the structures. Dust and dirt started to cover the air as Lye tried his hardest to make his way through it.

Rem signaled Subaru, Puck, and Beatrice to go over to her while the buildings were collapsing. "Once the cloud of dirt settles and he passes by here, lets attack him!" The group nodded

Julius was able to keep track of him surprisingly easily as the two were dashing through the cloud of thick dirt scattered across the abandoned city. As the sun seeped through the cloud fading away, Lye faced to see a group of four standing before him.

"Ul Huma!"

"El Minya!"

"El Minya, I suppose."

"Say goodnight!"

Rem, Subaru, Beatrice, and Puck all send countless ice crystals to Lye at the same time in hopes of overwhelming him. Lye's eyes widen as he dodged the devastating wave of shards that were hurdling toward him. He was taken aback by a few attacks, as he looked down to see his arm was frozen. "Behold your demise!" As more shards were being sent toward Lye, something started to grow out of Rem's forehead.

A small circle of purple struggled to grow on her forehead, as Rem looked to be in pain. Grabbing the morning star she summoned, she launched the chained ball at Lye midair. Lye notices this as he moved his head back, only grazing the tip of his nose as he smiled manically.

Falling back down, he rushed toward Rem and used one of his knives to slice her arm off. Rem screamed in agony as she fell to the floor. Beatrice and Subaru rush to the fallen maid as they combined their contracted healing magic to cease the bleeding and pain.

Ram approached Lye, as Julius followed suit. With the grin on his face never disappearing, he dashed toward Julius first as Ram used quick thinking to diverge his dash. "El Fura!" The wind successfully hit him as he was dragged against the concrete ground backwards. Julius then rose his sword as Lye stood back up in the matter of seconds.

Julius sent a beam of light shot from his sword as soon as he started to get back up. However, before Julius could even process the attack rendering as successful, Lye's face was inches away from his. Julius was struck with a scare as he felt his leg slice. He kneeled down, realizing the injury was minimal.

As Lye dashed past Julius after successfully attacking him, Ram sent another gust of wind, sending him tumbling over. As he stayed on the ground, Ram continued. "My name is Ram, an ex-maid from Roswaal L Mathers' mansion. I have a twin sister named Rem, who you damaged severely. I will be taking your life now." Lye couldn't help but grin even wider when he heard her words.

He started laughing as Ram looked at him with a disgusted face. He rose as Ram did not hesitate to send more magical attacks toward the man, but he easily deflected them. She launched herself into the air as she was preparing another hit. However, Lye's eyes widen with glee as he did not hesitate to use his magic to teleport to her from the sky.

Ram's face washed with shock as Lye elbowed her stomach from above, smacking the ground hard enough to damage an entire block's worth of bricks. More buildings collapsed around them as he stood in front of the now collapsed Ram.

She looked up to him with fear in her eyes. "My, you are a sturdy one! Thank you, my dear witch, for this meal!" He leered over her as she struggled to even breath. He opened his mouth, wide enough to fit Ram's head in it. She closed her eyes, having flashbacks of her and Subaru's moments together. From the day they first met, to the forest where they fended off the beasts. She teared up, thinking about having her life ending so soon. She wanted to live with Subaru, Rem, and everyone else happily, however she was let down. Ram's tears flow down her cheeks as his teeth and tongue touch her lightly.

Julius successfully healed his injured leg as he got up to look for the pink haired girl that accompanied him. Suddenly, he stopped ded in his tracks as he stood in place for 10 seconds. He then looked around with a confused look written on his face. "What am I doing here?" He questioned to himself as he traced back to where he last seen Subaru.

Rem was passed out in Subaru's arms. He could only observe her arm for so long. The work of Beatrice's healing magic he equipped along with her were able to subside the bleeding, but in result she was missing her right hand. Subaru looked down with sadness as Beatrice started.

"Be concerned not, I suppose. The witch factor of Wrath has the capabilities of recovering limbs entirely. For now, we will need to let her rest away from battle, I suppose." Subaru nodded, still looking down at Rem as he had a determined look in his face. "Guess that'll keep me going, huh?" Hearing no response, he looked back up to see Beatrice still next to him, however, she was completely motionless.

Subaru immediately fell into concern, as her eyes were stuck in a widened stance. It looked to be as if she was in complete shock. Subaru quickly waved his hand in front of her face. "Beako?!" Shortly after, she looked back at Subaru with an irritated face. "What is it, I suppose?" Subaru looked at her with an aggravated look on his face. "Don't scare me like that again, it looked like you were in shock all of a sudden!"

Beatrice looked at him with a confused face. "I have no clue what you are referring to, I suppose." Subaru felt a bit nervous at her response, but he shook his head as a bang shook the ground. Subaru got up quickly as he looked around. "… Ram! Where is Ram, Beako?" Beatrice looked at him with the same confused look. "Who is Ram, I wonder?" Subaru stood with a blank look on his face. At first, he felt like laughing at such a ridiculous question. "C'mon Beako, are the 400 years you lived finally catching up to you?!"

Beatrice pouted as she continued. "Do you take me as a fool, I suppose? I have no record of that name in my memory!" Subaru started to feel a chill down his spine. "Ah, there you are Subaru." Turning around, he saw Julius approaching the three. "Julius! Where is Ram?" Julius looked at him with a blank face. "Who is Ram?"

Subaru started to feel like he was going insane as Emilia and Puck approached along with Julius. "What's wrong, Subaru?" He asked Emilia. "Wh-where's Ram?!" Emilia gave him a confused look. "Ram? I don't know anyone with that name." Subaru started to tremble as he frantically asked Julius. "Julius! Where did Lye go?" Julius had a concerned look for Subaru. "It seems he has fled, the last time I saw him was crushing a nearby block, would you like me to take you there?" Subaru quickly nodded.

Julius and Subaru ran in the direction of the mass amount of rubble created by a huge crash. On the ground, laid Ram. Subaru quickly ran over to her as he kneeled with tears in his eyes. Julius stood back looking down at Subaru plainly. "Subaru, you know who this is?" He started to shake as he yelled back at him. "G-go get Beako!" Julius nodded as he walked back toward the area where the group was.

As Subaru sat next to the passed-out Ram, a person approached him. "Subaru, who is that?" Frederica spoke as he looked over to her. "Y-you too?!" Frederica was confused at his seemed-to-be random response. She questioned once again. "Use your healing magic to heal her, it seems she is greatly injured." Beatrice quickly approached to Subaru as she began to heal Ram with him.

With Ram tied around Subaru's back, and Frederica tending to Rem, the group walk back to Otto who was nervously waiting in the carriage. "Is everyone ok?!" He shouted as they approached him. Noticing the two passed out girls, a worried look washed over his face. However, he was not able to recognize one of them. Specifically, the one tied to Subaru's back.

Boarding the carriage, Otto looked back at Subaru. Getting onto the passenger's seat, he was immediately questioned. "Mr. Natsuki, was that girl a friend of yours?" Otto pointed at Ram, who was laying in deep sleep. Subaru looked back at him with a worried face as he mumbled. "Y-yeah…"

The sun casted twilight along the horizon as Beatrice informed the group about the next Sin Archbishop they needed to attack. Julius decided to get a small bit of rest, as he was already aware of their next location and attack. Subaru did not listen, however. The only thing he could think about is Ram, who everyone seemed to not know. "Hold on a second! Before anything else, where should we leave this girl?" Emilia pointed out Ram. Subaru could not help but feel even more emotional pain when they spoke of her as if she never came into their lives. "That is correct, let's track back to the capital before the Sun fully sets and we will leave her there." Otto then tuned in. "She looks a lot like Rem over there! They have similar hair styles!" Otto said cheerfully while pointing at the passed-out Rem. Subaru looked down as he grabbed his head.

Suddenly, the carriage exploded. Everyone was thrown out of the carriage as they all looked around frantically. "Who's there?!" Julius shouted as he wields his sword. Otto screamed. "Wh-what's going on?" Everyone landed as Beatrice caught Rem, and Frederica caught Ram. Emilia and Julius, however, landed on the ground with a thump as they were knocked out. Everyone looked over to see a man standing in front of there with his arms folded behind his back. His hair matched his snow-white dress, accompanied with golden eyes and a smug and relaxed face.

"Who are you?! Explain yourself!"

"I see. It is becoming clear now. You do not know who I am, but I know exactly who you are. You are a Royal Knight in the Kingdom of Lugnica."

"Explain yourself!"

The man looks at Julius with a massive grin on his face.

"I am a Sin Archbishop of the Witch's Cult, representing Greed. Regulus Corneas." Then another voice comes out. "I am a Sin Archbishop of the Witch's Cult, representing Gluttony, Lye Batenkaitos! Regulus then raised his arm up and Subaru's arm suddenly got chopped off out of nowhere. "I-I have to save them all!" Subaru quickly ran toward the bits the carriage left behind.

Otto pulled out a knife he had in his pocket. This was his only form of defense, as he was unable to do much. Noticing this, Subaru grabbed his knife as he stabbed himself in the neck. Pain flew through his entire body as blood plopped out of his esophagus at an insane rate. He dropped onto the ground, instantly dying. Otto stood at the scene with a shocked look on his face. "Beatrice!" He screamed in the hopes she would heal him quick enough for his life to be saved.

Beatrice's eyes widen as she saw the dead Subaru and hearing her name being called out. She dropped Rem as she ran over to him yelling "Subaru!" She used her healing magic in order to try healing him, but it was too late. She started to cry as she held his cold, dead body close to her. "I never got to tell you… I suppose." She proceeded to weep as Frederica tried to intervene any other attacks that were presented toward the two.

Julius slowly started to open his eyes as he saw red. His eyes were bloodshot, and his vision was pitched red and blurry. He slowly started to get back up as he quickly gave out and hit his head on the ground again. Upon impact, he splashed on something thick. Slowly tilting his head, he noticed he was in a pool of blood. Julius' head was split open, as he was on the verge of passing out once again.

Beatrice held herself to Subaru's chest as she cried. Lye approached her from behind as Frederica tensed up and ran toward him. Lye however, teleported to Frederica and decapitated her. Otto started to step back in panic as Lye approached Beatrice from behind. "Thank you for this wonderful feast!" Beatrice looked behind her to see a set of sharp teeth enclosing her head.

To be continued.


	23. Chapter 22: Erased

Engulfed in the familiar black void, Subaru stood. It was cold around him, as he saw a light in the distance. Similar to seeing a light at the end of a tunnel. Subaru walked through it as he was brought back to his visions.

"Are you alright Subaru?" Emilia spoke with a worried tone in her voice. Subaru blinked, rubbing his eyes. Once he regained his composure, he responds with a semi-calm voice. "Yeah, I'm fine." Emilia pouted as she continued. "Are you sure? You were acting really strange just a second ago!" Her face brought a small smile on his. "I just had something on my mind, that's it."

Ram suddenly shot at Subaru. "Quit being so pathetic, Barusu." Subaru rolled his eyes as he sat back looking at her. "Would you shut up Ram?! You're the one who confessed their love for me just a few days ago!" Ram lightly blushed as she quickly tried standing her ground. "You must have dreamed that. I would never say anything like that. Hah." Subaru sat up and pulled her hood over her head in playful aggression.

Rem smiled as Beatrice scoffed, flipping her hair. "Would you two quit flirting I suppose?" Subaru also had a blush wash over his face as he muttered. "Ok, ok, fine. Otto, how long until we get there?" Otto responded to Subaru's question. "About an hour I think." Subaru nodded. "I see. So, we're almost there!"

As Subaru looked down in thought, he remembered how Lye somehow was able to erase Ram from existence. _"Her body was still there, though…"_ His brain was struck with confusion. _"How was I only able to remember her?"_ Subaru could only guess as he thinks of ways to work around this trick. _"I'll have to keep an eye on him while we confront him this loop!"_ Subaru looked back up as he saw Julius standing across from him.

"Julius, what powers does this Lye guy have anyway?" Julius looked down at Subaru with a stern but comforting look. "I am not sure however I am mildly confident we will get him." He smiled confidently as Subaru nodded back at him. "I'm sure we will too!"

The group decide to discuss on multiple topics to ease their mind before the confrontation. As Subaru was smiling at the small petty fights people were having in between each other, he suddenly remembered Ram's relationship with Roswaal. He decided to speak up on it. "Hey Ram, I want to know… How close were you and Roswaal?" Ram looked at Subaru with a surprised look on her face. The look that told him, _"Where did that question come from?"_ Still, however, she responded.

"He destroyed me and Rem's home village when we were children. As I had lost my horn, I had no other choice but to let him take us in..." Subaru's eyes widen. "What? Why did he destroy your village?" Ram reassured herself along with Subaru. "To kill all of the witch cultists that were terrorizing us." Subaru nodded with a small smile. "I see…"

Rem seemed to tense up at the small conversation they had as Subaru notices this. Reluctantly, he asks her. "Is everything ok Rem?" Rem put on a forced smile as she responded. "Rem is okay" Subaru looked at her, worried. "Mr. Natsuki, we have arrived!" Subaru heard Otto's voice as everyone started to exit the carriage precociously. Entering the abandoned village, they progressed in a group. Subaru and Julius led ahead as they saw Lye walking up to them sluggishly and slowly with a wide grin.

"Ahhh! I keep eating and eating, but it's never enough! I eat, I devour, I chew, I bite, I gnaw, I munch, I crunch, I savor, pure gluttony!" Julius wields his sword without hesitation as he says with a stern voice. "Who are you? Explain yourself!" He held his sword with both of his gloved hands, with the tip pointed in Lye's direction. "I am a Sin Archbishop of the Witch's Cult, representing Gluttony, Lye Batenkaitos! And who might you be?"

Julius nodded as he explained. "I am a knight for the Royal Guard of Lugnica, Julius Juuklius, and I shall slay you, for my friend, Subaru Natsuki!" Subaru smiled as he generated crystal shards. "Julius, attack now!" Pointing at Lye with his other hand, Julius clashes into Lye as they engage in a blade-to-blade battle. With many of the same attacks and parries occurring from the last loop, Lye starts to dash across buildings. "Such spirits! I am certainly going to enjoy this feast!"

Subaru cheered Julius on, "Julius, don't let your guard down!" Julius smirked at his words as he yells back. "Got it!". Julius and Lye engage in head on combat, with Lye once again blocking most of Julius's attacks with the knives bounded to his wrists. Subaru stood at a distance, as he watched the two clashing onto each other. Subaru felt a hand slip into his. Looking to his right, he saw Beatrice looking up at him.

He then felt another one of his hands being grabbed. He saw Emilia as Subaru blushed in confusion. "Don't jump to any conclusions, I suppose! The three of us are going to conduct a flowed spell of minya." Beatrice said with a small blush written on her face. Emilia nodded as Puck summoned from her crystal. "Make that four of us!" Beatrice's eyes widen at Puck's sight. "Bubby!" She said in excitement as Subaru groaned.

"Al Clauseria!" Sword pointed at Lye's direction. He shot a beam of light toward him. Anyone who was hit with this beam of light would be instantly knocked out, regardless of their powers. However, Lye appeared in front of his face after the beam was launched. With Subaru seeing this from a distance, he was dumbstruck. "H-how?!"

"Al Fura!" From a distance separated from Subaru and the others, Ram shot a gust of wind at Lye's incredible speed. Although he had his actions full with Julius, he deflected the gust of wind as Ram jumped out of the way as the gust tumbled down. Crashing into the bricks, small explosion occurred. Rem turned back from a small, sheltered area near them. "Sister, are you ok?" Rem rushed over to her as Ram nodded.

Frederica peeked from the sheltered area that Rem was in. Rem turned back to face her. "Frederica, wait until I give you a signal and that's when you will morph into your beast form!" Frederica smiled as she nodded nervously. "Understood."

Lye clashed onto Julius once again. With his blade against his wrist, he pushed it with a great amount of force. Julius was stunned as Lye pounced onto his body, sending him tumbling down onto the main brick road. After Lye touched Julius' chest with his left hand, he proceeded to lick the palm of it. Julius then passed out as silence rang across the town. Everyone around Subaru stood with blank stares and expressions on their faces.

"Thank you for this wonderful feast, my witch!" Subaru looked to see the now passed out Julius as everyone blinked in unison. "What happened to Julius?!" Beatrice and Emilia turned to Subaru with confused looks on their faces. "I'm confused, who is Julius?" Subaru's eyes widen with shock.

 _"He's able to erase someone from existence?! With the touch of his mouth?"_ Subaru stood shaken as Beatrice spoke up. "Snap out of it, I suppose!" Subaru brought himself back to his consciousness as he looked over to see Ram approaching them from around the corner. "Barusu, did you hit your head or something? There's nobody here named Julius."

He stood in silence as he was still shocked at the events that unfolded before him. Seeing a dark but short figure behind Ram, Subaru screamed. "Ram!" The group of four create crystals at the speed of light as they shoot directly toward the figure, but it was too late. Lye did the same thing that he did to Julius to Ram, however she did not pass out.

Ram stood there and spoke. "W-where am I?" Subaru detached from Emilia and Beatrice's grips as he confronted Ram. "Are you alright Ram?" Ram looked at Subaru with a confused look as she got more tense. "Who are you?! Explain yourself!" Subaru looked at her with a confused look. "I'm Subaru Natsuki, we were literally just talking a few seconds ago!"

"I have no idea who this Subaru Natsuki is."

Rem appeared around the corner as Emilia, Puck, and Beatrice stood with shocked looks on their faces. "W-what happened to sister?" Rem looked at her with a very worried look on her face. "I don't know." Ram turned around to see Rem. She started to back up, frightened at the people she did not know closing in on her. "Tell me, where am I!"

Subaru started explaining. "We're fighting Lye, the Sin Archbishop of Gluttony, remember?" Suddenly she locked up her knees, holding her skirt down. "I have no idea what a Sin Archbishop is. I believe you kidnapped me with ill intent, I must kill you!" She got up with an angered look on her face. Subaru started to back up as Ram launched at him.

Feeling a stern pain across his face, Ram punches Subaru across the face as he quickly flung across the air and landed on the ground. Beatrice tried pulling her back without force, wanting to not harm her. Ram then started to barrage Subaru with her fists. He started to puke as she hit him in the stomach multiple times. She landed her final punch with a right hook as Subaru was flung across the brick road and hit a building.

The last thing he saw before his death was Beatrice trying to desperately heal him with tears in her eyes. His vision faded to black as he reached out his arms to embrace Beatrice…

Subaru was engulfed in the black void again as he sat in the cold darkness, waiting for a sign of anything to come. A short wait later, a purple arm appears and starts reaching toward him. Bringing the hand closer to him, he reached out. As soon as it impacted his body, he had a vision.

He saw Beatrice with tears in her eyes as she was holding his body, holding his face close to hers. With seeing this, Subaru did not know how to feel. He was surprised at the sudden emotional scene, but the image of Beatrice crying was one he had not seen before. He held that picture close into his heart as he started to see light once again, with tears in his eyes.

Waking up in the rumbling carriage, Subaru sat up and met eyes with Beatrice. He could not help but remember the vision he had just then, and naturally started tearing up. "What is it, I suppose?" Subaru felt like lunging onto her into an embrace, but he held back hesitantly. He could not help himself, as he launched at her and embraced her.

Beatrice took surprise and immediately got embarrassed. "Wh-what are you doing, I suppose!" She reluctantly pushed him off. Ram saw the scene and felt slightly jealous, but she passed it off. "Sorry Beako, I'm just giving you what my home city, Japan, calls a good luck hug!" Subaru lied as Beatrice put her finger on her chin with an interested face.

"That's interesting, I suppose." Subaru nodded as he saw everyone else's intrigued faces. With a small laugh, everyone nodded also wanting to know more about where Subaru came from.

Bringing himself back to reality, he remembered Lye. _"Did Lye erase Ram's memories? Maybe he needs to know someone's name to put them in a coma."_ Subaru thought about the scene that unraveled before him last loop.

_"Ahhh! I keep eating and eating, but it's never enough! I eat, I devour, I chew, I bite, I gnaw, I munch, I crunch, I savor, pure gluttony!" Julius wields his sword without hesitation as he says with a stern voice. "Who are you? Explain yourself!" He held his sword with both of his gloved hands, with the tip pointed in Lye's direction. "I am a Sin Archbishop of the Witch's Cult, representing Gluttony, Lye Batenkaitos! And who might you be?" Julius nodded as he explained. "I am a knight for the Royal Guard of Lugnica, Julius Juuklius, and I shall slay you, for my friend, Subaru Natsuki!"_

Subaru kept repeating that scene in his head. _"He introduced himself and was erased from existence entirely"_ He then remembered how Ram was eaten.

_Ram stood there and spoke. "W-where am I?" Subaru detached from Emilia and Beatrice's grips as he confronted Ram. "Are you alright Ram?" Ram looked at Subaru with a confused look as she got more tense. "Who are you?! Explain yourself!" Subaru looked at her with a confused look. "I'm Subaru Natsuki, we were literally just talking a few seconds ago!"_

_"I have no idea who this Subaru Natsuki is."_

Subaru then kept thinking about both scenes and compared them. _"I'll have to test out my theory once we get there, but I have to let them know not to say their names at the very least!"_

"Is something the matter?"

Rem's soft and sweet voice rang through Subaru's head as he snapped back to his consciousness. "I'm fine, thank you Rem. By the way, I think we should be wary of Lye. Since he is the Sin Archbishop of Gluttony *gluttony meaning an extreme need of eating*, I assume has some sort of abilities to eat people, I am only assuming though. Don't tell him your name."

Subaru tried to slide by his plan without awkward explanation, and thankfully Julius nodded along with everyone else. "If you insist."

Beatrice then pouted as she said. "Betty didn't plan to do that anyways, I suppose. Hmph!" Otto then looked back at Subaru and the others. "Mr. Natsuki, we have arrived!" Subaru nodded as everyone started to exit the carriage. Frederica and Emilia agree to stay low and take shelter inside of a building, and only to come out and help when it's absolutely necessary.

Subaru and Julius led the group through the abandoned village once again, as Lye approached them with the same line.

"Ahhh! I keep eating and eating, but it's never enough! I eat, I devour, I chew, I bite, I gnaw, I munch, I crunch, I savor, pure gluttony!" Julius wielded his sword, pointing at him with two hands on grip. "Who are you? Explain yourself!" Lye held both of his hands out as large blades emerged from his wrists. "I am a Sin Archbishop of the Witch's Cult, representing Gluttony, Lye Batenkaitos! And who might you be?"

Remembering what Subaru said, Julius decides to not tell Lye his name. "There is no need for an introduction from the person who is about to kill you!" Subaru then thought during the confrontation. _"What if I tell him a fake name, I wonder what will happen?"_ Subaru then smiled, wanting to gamble his luck, just like his father did back in Japan.

"My name is Schwarz Natsumi, nice to meet you, Lye!" Subaru said cheerfully. The group looked at Subaru quiz fully as Subaru held back a smile at the silly name he chose apart from his. "What an interesting name, I will certainly enjoy this feast!" With his pupils locked onto Subaru, he dashed toward him as Julius observed his movement.

Lye comes charging at Subaru with full speed, with Julius trying to intervene. However, it was too late. Lye licked Subaru's cheek as Subaru blinked with a stare.

Suddenly, Lye puts his hand over his forehead and screams in agony. _"I see. So that did something."_ Subaru thought to himself. He quickly shouted to Julius. "Julius, attack now!" Julius looked at the scene sternly with a quick excited sweat of hope. "Understood. Al Clauseria!"

Julius sends yet another beam of light towards Lye, this time he can't dodge it due to the state he is in. He is pushed back and seemingly weakened. Subaru held his palm up with a smirk as Beatrice hopped onto his back. Feeling the light gravity effect take place, Subaru jumped high into the sky as he shouted. "El Minya!" Beatrice mumbled. "El Minya, I suppose…"

A large wave of shards was sent to Lye as he was still flying back from the beam attack. With the shards hitting him, the majority sliced through his neck as he head flew off of his body. The ice quickly traveled through his body as he hit the ground, blowing up into a million pieces.

Emilia peeked out of the dark building with Frederica. "Did we get him?!" Subaru stood with sweat generating on his face after landing on the ground with Beatrice safely. "It would appear so." Julius said with a slight smile on his face. Subaru smiled largely as he heard more footsteps.

Suddenly Subaru realizes that the familiar man with snow-white hair is standing right next to them. The smug face Subaru met him with originally seemed to have nothing to do with him, as he looked agitated. "Now listen here, who told you it was acceptable behavior to ignore me while I'm standing here? I do believe that is a violation of my right to express myself!"

Subaru stood with his fists now clenched with a new feeling of threat. "You again…"

_To Be Continued._


	24. Chapter 23: Regulus

"You again…"

Regulus approached the group as he saw Lye's mutilated corpse split across the brick road. "It seems that quite the scene has occurred during my absence" He said with a stern expression. Subaru looked into Regulus' eyes as he remembered what happened the first time they saw him.

Subaru felt a sharp pain as he realized his arm was removed from his body. He spewed out blood as his vision blurred.

Subaru thought to himself, "It's probably best if I don't piss this guy off then…" Subaru pointed toward the now decapitated Lye as he questioned.

"You know that guy?" As he said this, Regulus seemed to be more agitated. "If I didn't, then why would I stand h-" Ram interrupted him as she shot. "Explain yourself! Who are you?" Ram stared at the gold-eyed man as he scoffed back in response. "Who told you to interrupt me as I'm speaking?! I do believe that is a violation of my right to express myself!"

Subaru's eyes widened as he saw Regulus slowly start to raise his hand upward as he brought it up with a quick jolt. Ram screamed in pain as her now split arm hit the concrete. Subaru reeled back in horror as he was disgusted by the scene. Rem and Beatrice quickly rush over to Ram as Regulus once again spoke.

"Don't interrupt while I'm speaking." He muttered. Subaru was battling against his emotions. He badly wanted to attack the man, however, he was still unknown to his powers. With Subaru looking over to see Ram barely breathing, he inhaled as he gathered up all of his rage and turned it into energy. He yelled at the top of his lungs. "Shamak!"

A black cloud erupted from Subaru as he ran through the void, seemingly remembering Regulus' location. As he panted with a crazed smile across his face, the black void vanished in a flash as Regulus threw dirt into the air. The dirt suddenly rushed through the air toward Subaru. The dirt hit his chest as it plunged through his skin and into his lungs. He then felt it come out of his back and swarm his entire body as if a pack of angry bees were attacking him. Subaru felt his soul quickly leave him as his vision faded to black. His body materialized as Regulus scoffed, looking down at Ram, Rem, and Beatrice.

"Al Cla-" Julius was interrupted by Regulus flicking his hand upward. Julius' arm went flying off of his body, as his sword flew across the air and pierced into nearby dirt. Julius fell to his knees, as Regulus stepped toward the three girls. He smiled looking down at them.

Subaru stood up quickly in the cold and damp void as he held his head in pain. "How am I supposed to deal with someone like him?" He saw the hand reach out toward him as he thought. "He was able to cut off my arm with a flick of a hand? How are we supposed to battle that?" Suddenly, Subaru heard a voice ring through his head.

"For so long, so very long… I have loved you." It was a female voice, it sounded soft and comforting. Subaru looked around in the darkness as the arm reached closer to him. "Huh?" Subaru was struck with confusion as the voice continued to ring in his head. "For so very long…" Subaru looked around, but could not find anything but the pitch black void. "Who's voice am I hearing?"

Subaru noticed the arm vanish as he looked to see a dark figure standing in front of him. He was able to tell it was a female, considering the detailed curves on her body. The figure started to walk toward him as he muttered. "Wh-who are you?" Suddenly, he started to have visions flash before his very eyes.

He first saw Beatrice again with tears in her eyes, however, they stood in a different scene. Ram was in the background, grabbing Subaru as tears rolled down her eyes. "This has to be…" Subaru remembered this loop from a long time ago. The time he met with Elsa once again. Beatrice scoffed as she looked down saddened. "Why do humans gain such emotions, I suppose?... Along with spirits…" Subaru's eyes widened as the vision cut from his eyes.

The glowing figure was now standing before him, at a face to face level. "I love you" The mouth on the figure did not seem to move, however, he heard the voice ring through his head clearly. The figure then leaned in and pulled Subaru to her shoulder as he felt an extreme pain in his heart...

Subaru opens his eyes as he gasps for air. Kneeling down on the brick road, Rem rushes over to Subaru. "Is something the matter?" Subaru controlled his heavy breathing as Rem spoke. Subaru nodded as he observed the environment around him. He noticed Lye's remains scattered across the road, along with Ram being in perfect condition. With a small feeling of relief, he responds.

"I'm fine, thank you Rem."

Rem smiled gently as Julius approached Subaru from behind. "So, did we win?" Julius asked Subaru as he turned back slowly to face him. "I don't think so. I have a bad feeling another one of them will arrive soon, be prepared…" Julius nodded as he gripped onto his sword grip harder. "If you insist."

Ram then approached Subaru as she bumped her elbow into him purposefully. "Quit being so worried, pathetic Barusu." Subaru sighed with a small smile as he responded. "It never hurts to be too prepared, does it?" Ram nods. "I will admit you do have a good point." Rem then approaches the two with a smile on her face.

"If you say so sister. So who do you think will arrive?" Ram looked at Subaru as he responded to Rem's unanswered question. "I think the Sin Archbishop of Greed will. I'm not entirely sure, but we should be prepared just in case." Julius then joined along in the conversation as he spoke. "As a matter of fact, the Sin Archbishop of Greed has commonly been seen with Gluttony, so you may be correct." Subaru nodded. "We'll have to see then…"

Subaru turned around to see Beatrice in a small distance away from him. She seemed to be playing with Puck, as she had a very happy look in her face. Subaru slowly approached her, not wanting to startle her and put her in a bad mood. As he lightly tapped on her shoulder, she didn't even flinch, nor turn around to face him.

"What now, I suppose?" She spoke, still having her attention focused on Puck. Subaru groaned as he asked, "Did you even listen to what I just said?!" Beatrice held Puck and covered him with the fluff on her dress as she scoffed. "Betty is too busy to do that." She pouted as Subaru scratched his cheek with an awkward smile on his face.

"Jeez, you really can be a pain sometimes Beako... Anyways I think we will see the Sin Archbishop of Greed arrive soon." Beatrice then turned to face Subaru as she looked up at him. "What makes you so sure of that, I suppose?" Subaru went ahead to explain. "Julius did say it was common for him to be with Lye."

"Hmph! Fine, I suppose." Subaru smiled as he poked at her cheek while smiling. Subaru then remembered what he saw while in the black void with the glowing female figure. "Why do humans gain such emotions, I suppose?... Along with spirits…" Subaru couldn't help but keep thinking of what this could have meant. "Was Beako talking about her feelings?" Subaru was going to confront her about it at that moment, but he was interrupted.

"Who are you?! Explain yourself!" Rem exclaimed as Subaru heard her. Whipping around, Subaru saw Rem and Ram standing tensely at the presence of an agitated white-haired man. He stood in place as he scoffed. "I wish you wouldn't be so harsh. I'm just standing here.

Rem snapped at him. "That's not an answer. Explain yourself!" Regulus looks at Rem as a massive smirk crawls across his face, then responds.

"A Sin Archbishop of the Witch's Cult, representing Greed, Regulus Corneas!" Julius interrupted as he jumped into the air, performing a torpedo twirl as he shouted. "Al Clauseria!" Julius shoots a beam of light at Regulus, as it throttled towards him at an insane speed. However, when it hit him, he stood without flinching as he sarcastically laughed.

"Now listen here! Who told you it was acceptable behavior to attack someone with a sword while they're speaking? I do believe that is a violation of my right to freely express myself!" Julius landed on his feet. He stood struck by confusion, seeing how the attack did virtually nothing to him.

Regulus begins to raise his hand as he launches it upward. Julius' arm was chopped off of his body as it flew across the air. Julius collapses to his knees, grabbing the open wound with his other hand. "Julius!" Subaru started to rush toward the scene as Regulus yelled with anger in his voice. "Don't disrupt me!"

Subaru remembered the way he attacked him last time. He was able to use Shamak for a period of time, however if he ever got in close range, death would be guaranteed. Subaru then thought of an idea. "You monster… Shamak!"

Subaru surrounds Regulus in a cloud of darkness, but with a different tactic this time. He had a general idea of where his direction is, so he decides to send ice crystals toward him. "El Minya!" The shards launched toward the dark void as he heard them explode, as if they hit successfully.

The Shamak then wore off, and Subaru saw Regulus standing with a large grin on his face. Once again, he was unscathed. "Al Fura!" Ram sends a wind blast at Regulus, with him once again not being hurt one bit. Over and over, attacks were hurdled at Regulus, but none seemed to even lay a scratch on him.

" _H-how?!"_ Subaru thought. After more attacks, Subaru had an idea. He ran toward Regulus as one of the attacks were hurdled toward him as he begins a right hook punch to his face in hopes to stun him. As the attack hits him, he lifts his arm up and cuts off Subaru's arm. Subaru, once again feeling the sharp pain, collapsed to the ground. "Barusu!"

Ram ran towards Subaru, but it was too late. Regulus stood leering over Subaru as he lifted his foot and stomped on his head over and over again with force. He started to cough blood as his body started shaking. Subaru suffered in the seizure as bloody foam poured from his mouth. With one final lift, Regulus crushed Subaru's head, with brains and blood spilling out of him.

_To be Continued_


	25. Chapter 24: Sinking

CANON ARC 5 SPOILERS IN THIS CHAPTER

Sitting in the familiar village once again, Subaru ran thoughts through his head. Right after being violently stomped by Regulus, he knew that this opponent was no joke and had to come up with a plan in order to defeat him. Thinking of possibilities, the thought of Reinhard came up to his mind.

"Apparently, Regulus is doing something that blocks all attacks on him... Maybe this is some sort of magic? Can Reinhard stop him?" He sat in thought as he was soon interrupted by the familiar voice. "Subaru, what's wrong?" Emilia spoke to the stunned Subaru with a worried tone in her voice.

Coming back to his senses, Subaru awoke back to his checkpoint. He saw the remains of Lye once again, turning to Emilia as he spoke. "I think we should get Reinhard..." Emilia stood with a confused look on her face. "What for?"

Emilia was confused at Subaru's sudden request, seeing as they had just defeated Lye. "I don't think we will be able to defeat the Sin Archbishop of Greed." Subaru's explanation only made Emilia more confused. "Why should we be worrying about the SIn Archbishop of Greed? We just defeated Lye, and we don't know the current location of-"

Emilia was cut off by Beatrice who was approaching the two. "What makes you say that, I suppose?" Subaru looked to his left and saw the familiar girl with drill pigtails approaching him. "I think this greed guy has a way to block all attacks sent at him..."

"Quit being so worried Barusu, it's pathetic." Ram scoffed at Subaru from a distance. "Oh would you just shut up already?!" Subaru could tell Ram was trying to hide her feelings and show a tough front toward everyone else present. However, Subaru was the only one who knew how she truly felt under her words.

Subaru pointed at Frederica, who was peeking out of a nearby building she was hiding in during the battle. "I need you to go tell Otto to go get Reinhard." Frederica stepped out of the building as she quickly nodded. "Right away." She started walking toward the area the carriage was last seen. Subaru followed her, ready to explain everything he needed to.

"If you say so Mister Natsuki.." Otto hesitantly agreed to Subaru's request. Frederica then spoke. "I'll go along with you." Otto showed a small expression of surprise as he responded. "H-huh? Y-you don't need to, it's fi-" Otto was trying to stop Frederica from going with him, however, she insisted.

"I must make sure nobody gets hurt." Otto sat, thinking for a lil as he muttered in response. "If you say so..." Frederica nodded and smiled. She stepped into the back of the carriage as Otto whipped the land dragon to start moving. As they disappeared into the distance, Subaru walked back to the abandoned city, where all the others were.

The sun started to set, painting a twilight glow across the sky. At the moment being, it was quiet and peaceful. Subaru then remembered that Regulus would be appearing soon after they killed Lye, so he rushed back to the small village to meet with the others.

Making it back, he was glad to see that Regulus had not appeared yet. Looking at the small group of people, he put his hand up and signaled them to gather around him. Once everyone was present, Subaru explained. "I have a bad feeling that the Sin Archbishop of Greed will be showing up soon… No, I'm sure of it. I want everyone to try their best to not anger him."

Rem speaks from the gathered people. "But what if he attacks any of us, especially sister and you?" This of course was a possibility, considering Subaru could say something that could agitate him even more without him knowing. As he thought about this, he reassured her. "That's why we have to try our hardest not to anger him, let's be civil with him and buy as much time as possi-"

Suddenly, the familiar white-haired figure approached them with an evil grin on his face. "Who are you? Explain yourself!" Rem whipped around, sensing a presence approaching the group. Rem was visibly angry at the man who was before them, likely because of the scent he possessed. Like Subaru, the Sin Archbishops had the Witch's scent engraved in them. Maybe it has something to do with a person linking themselves to the Witch?

"Isn't it common courtesy for someone to introduce themselves first?!" Regulus was annoyed by Rem's sudden act of immediate aggression. "I won't ask again, explain yourself!" Rem screamed at Regulus, who wore an evil smirk across his face. "A Sin Archbishop of the Witch's Cult, representing Greed, Regulus Corneas!"

"Rem wait!"

Subaru knew this opponent meant trouble and had to keep his friends from getting themselves hurt. Rem turned around and saw Subaru's expression, noticing she was being jumpy and aggressive to Regulus after Subaru told her not to do so. She calmed herself down as Ram whispered to Subaru.

"Barusu, what should we do now?" Ram looked at Subaru with a small worried expression. He whispered back, "I don't know.., but make sure we don't anger him, at all costs." Ram then slowly slipped her hand into his for a small moment. "If you insist, Barusu..." Subaru held her hand as she quickly let go to accompany her sister.

Subaru adjusted his belt as Regulus went ahead to explain. "Don't be so worried, I absolutely despise fighting unlike him." Regulus said in a neutral tone while staring at Lye's motionless corpse.

Seeing Regulus looking at Lye's dead body, Subaru muttered. "Is that so?" Subaru remained calm, trying not to anger him. "However…" Regulus suddenly points his gaze to Emilia. Emilia stood tensley at Regulus' gaze shifting toward her. A few moments passed by with Regulus' golden eyes laying into Emilia's violet eyes. She shifted her gaze away with a blush. Noticing this, Regulus took a few steps forward, seemingly aiming toward Emilia's direction. Suddenly, her crystal pendant glowed as Puck emerged and created an Ice wall in between Regulus and Emilia.

The Sin Archbishop was visibly annoyed that Puck had just blocked him from getting to Emilia. "I won't let you get a step closer to my daughter." Puck said with a menacing look on his face. Regulus then pointed toward Puck as he said with aggression in his tone.

"Listen here, who told you it was acceptable to block someone while they're just walking?! I do think that is a violation of my right to freely express myself!" Regulus had been angered by Puck blocking his path. With the scene unraveling in front of Subaru, he screamed in his mind "We're screwed!"

Puck generated a large wave of ice shards, surrounding him in a circular form. "Say goodnight!" The ice shards launched toward him as the wall melted away in a flash. Regulus blocked every single one of the ice shards that were sent to him at lightning speed. Kicking on the ground, dirt was sent into the air as he used magic to send the dirt toward Puck. Seeing this, Puck made a move by instinct, leading him to evade the attack only by inches.

"You're so strong, I almost envy you!" Puck stated to the infuriated Regulus. Julius wielded his sword and hurdled toward him, managing to knock him down. He swung multiple times as his sword glowed all sorts of colors, Regulus used his authority to negate the swings that hit him. He quickly and boldly grabbed the blade mid-swing and knocked Julius onto the ground.

Ice shards were sent toward Regulus, blocking them easily once again. Puck then yawned and started to fade into transparency. Regulus looked up at him with an amused expression written on his face. Puck then looked down at Emilia with a worried expression as he closed his eyes. He imploded into multiple orbs of light, returning back to Emilia's pendant once again.

Regulus then started to approach Emilia once again. She backed up slowly while he was approaching her. Regulus then launched toward her, attempting to grab Emilia. She managed to block his hand by using her magic to create a small shield in front of her. Ice shards flew through the air as Regulus blocked the incoming wave to his right. Looking over, Subaru and Beatrice were creating waves of ice shards to launch at him. Meanwhile, Ram and Rem were setting up a synchronized attack toward him from behind him.

Regulus scoffed as the battle to buy time began. Rem summoned her morning star and hurdled it toward Regulus with a scream. Regulus whipped around, letting Emilia get away to take shelter in a nearby building. Catching the spiked ball, Regulus groaned as he whipped the chain bound to it. Ram sent a wind attack toward the chain, noticing the strength of the whip could have majorly injured Rem. "El Fura!"

The wind attack hit the chain, interrupting the whip as it created a small popping sound. Rem then pulled the chain, letting the ball escape from Regulus' hands. "Do it Rem, Murak!" Subaru shouted, casting the spell onto her as she leaped into the sky. She started to summersault, letting the ball loose.

The momentum of her summersaults caused the ball to move in a circular motion, the weight of it made Rem's summersaults faster. As the ball was revolving at an insane speed, Subaru reached his hand out toward her in the air. "This might cause a bit of damage…" Subaru tensed up and shouted. "Vita!"

The magic then sent Rem flying downward to Regulus' direction. At the speed of light, the ball hit the brick ground. The ground erupted as almost all of the buildings collapsed. Emilia ran out of hers as bricks and rubble were flying through the air. The village, now distraught and destroyed, only served as a battlefield.

Subaru struggled to stand after the large rumble and destruction, coughing at the dirt and dust that were entering his lungs. Julius created a slash that wiped away all of the dirt and dust in the air as Regulus stood, wiping his eyes. "How overwhelming, I haven't even done anything remotely threatening yet!" Regulus spoke with a disgusted tone in his voice.

Subaru looked over to Emilia who was standing tensley a small distance away from the scene. He grabbed Beatrice's hand, rushing toward her to keep her safe. Regulus noticed this and turned around to see Emilia being guarded by the two. "I won't let you touch her!" Subaru said sternly. "That sounded like something Puck would say" Subaru thought to himself.

"Let's do this Beako!" Subaru said as a purple glow emerged from the hands that were holding each other. Large purple shards of mana were generated as the two began to slowly float into the air. Regulus began to raise his hand as Subaru's eyes opened wide. "No!" he could only scream in his mind, however...

"That's enough!"

Suddenly, a familiar voice rang through the scene as the red-haired knight emerged from the shadows. Accompanied by Otto and Frederica, Reinhard held his hand back, signaling the two to get back. Reinhard grasped the grip to his sword, approaching Regulus slowly. "Seems I made it just in time."

Subaru looked over to see Reinhard, as a smile grew on his face. "I can always count on Otto and Frederica when it comes to emergencies!" Subaru whispered to himself. Regulus stood only a couple of feet away from the now distracted Regulus. "What do you say, shall we end this?"

Regulus' face, which was once serious, was replaced with a smile of intrigue. "Of course." Regulus stood, awaiting an attack from Reinhard. He released his sword from his waist, pointing it up to the sky. The sword started to glow very brightly, illuminating the night sky. Subaru recognized this as the attack he used to defy the corrupted Rem back at the mansion.

Lowering his sword into a swing, a large beam of light was sent towards Regulus that was bound to hit him. However, when the light disappeared, Reinhard was surprised to see Regulus unscathed. "It seems I underestimated our opponent…" Reinhard spoke sternly.

Regulus lifted his hand in a dash, however nothing seemed to happen. Reinhard, noticing this, smirked. "I was expecting you to use an attack like that sooner!" Regulus gritted his teeth in frustration as he kicked the dirt below him into the air.

"Reinhard look out!" Subaru screamed in fear as Regulus attempted to use his dirt attack once again. The dirt launched toward Reinhard, however he used his sword to block the dirt attacks at lightning speed.

Regulus scoffed. "It seems like I have underestimated my opponent!" He mocked Reinhard as Subaru let go of Beatrice's hand, canceling the accumulated attack. "What if we knock him into that lake over there and have Emilia make an ice shield above it so he drowns… Yeah, that'll definitely work!" Subaru let the scenario play out in his head a couple of times as he looked over at the lake.

"It seems pretty sizable… Let's give it a shot!" Subaru looked behind him and signaled Emilia to come closer to him. Regulus then snapped over to Subaru. "You won't be taking her away!" Regulus started to break into a run toward her, however, Reinhard stepped in his way and knocked him down with a punch. He quickly got back up as Subaru grabbed Emilia by the legs and lifted her.

"S-Subaru, what are you doing?!" She had a blush on her face as Subaru panted. "I'll explain in a minute, just watch!" They ran toward the lake as Regulus quickly caught up to them. Regulus quickly stopped and stood in place, along with Subaru and Emilia. They were now standing by the large lake that extended far upon the grassy plane. "How dare you run away while I try to speak to you, I do believe that is a violation of my rights to freely express mys-!"

Subaru cockfully scoffed. "Would ya shut up already? Going on about some rights crap, cmon!" Regulus clenched his fists in rage as he began to lift his hand once more. Reinhard swung his sword from behind him as Regulus launched back. Looking around quickly, he decided to use the same dirt tactic on Reinhard. This time, however, he deflected the dirt as it was sent hurtling toward him.

Regulus was sent flying backwards as he plopped into the lake's water. "Now, Mili!" Emilia raised her hand and generated a large ice crystal and sent it hurdling down to the lake. On impact, it froze the entirety of the lake's surface, making it impenetrable. Emilia accumulated mana from the time she spent separated from the fight, causing her to be able to send one large ice crystal toward the lake.

Regulus swam toward the surface, only to hit his head on something solid. A gastly ice-blue glow was in his eyes as he widened them. Realizing the surface was frozen, he thrashed and barraged his fists against the frozen surface. Oxygen started to escape him as bubbles rang through his mouth. Water began to fill his lungs as the ice made the water irresistibly cold. Regulus felt his life quivering as it hurt to even try to move. The water continued to pour into his body, his brain, his ears, his lungs, his breathing passage, his stomach. Motionlessly, he darted his eyes upward to see Emilia looking down at him through the surface. His vision blurred as he coughed one last time.

To be continued


	26. Chapter 25: A Moment of Silence

ARC 5 SPOILERS IN THIS CHAPTER ONCE AGAIN

Emilia kicked down at the icy surface of the lake, checking to see if it was easy to break. "Welp, looks like he's stuck down there for good" Subaru brushed his shoulders as he observed the scene. The large crystal stuck to the middle of the lake, as if it were a statue. The frozen surface and crystal gave off a blue glow, along with making a soothing noise. The air turned cool as Subaru took a deep breath and exhaled. "I love the cold" Subaru thought to himself.

Reinhard walked up to Subaru as he said in a concerned tone, "Did we get him?". Subaru stretched and nodded in a tired voice. "Looks like we did..." Subaru let out a relieved sigh. Finally, after six deaths, he was able to defeat the Sin Archbishop of Gluttony and Greed. However, he knew at the back of his mind that their voyage was far from over.

Julius, Rem, Ram, and Beatrice all came over hill to see the now frozen monument where the Sin Archbishop of Greed had perished. Julius saw Reinhard as he approached him, walking downhill. "That was an unexpected entrance!" Julius spoke to Reinhard. The two spoke as Subaru thought about who they would encounter next.

"Who's next?" Subaru asked Julius. "According to recent reports sent to the capital, it appears that the Sin Archbishop of Lust has been seen roaming around recently." According to Julius, the Sin Archbishop of Lust had recently been seen in the vicinity of the capital, however they were unaware of their name.

Reinhard then joined in on their wonderings. "Will I be needed for any longer?" Reinhard asked in a calm tone. "Of course, you're the strongest here!" Reinhard would have given the voyage a great advantage, considering he is what everyone refers to as 'Master Swordsman'. "I see... I will help you then." Reinhard gave a soft smile toward Subaru as he gave the same. "Thanks a bunch, Reinhard!" He flashed a thumbs up.

To Subaru's surprise, it was easy to get to help from Reinhard on their voyage. "Maybe it's because he knows the Sin Archbishops won't be easy to deal with... Whatever, I'm not complaining!" Subaru eased his mind now as he turned to see Beatrice and the others sitting uphill, looking at the scene.

Ram, being in the group, notices Subaru looking up at them and walks down to him. Emilia then returned from observing the frozen lake as she spoke. "Alright, we'll head to the carriage now!" Emilia told Ram and Subaru, "Are you coming with us?" She then asked, tilting her head in question.

Before Subaru could speak, Ram started speaking with a smirk on her face. "No thank you Miss Emilia, I'm going to go teach Barusu a lesson." Subaru squinted his eyes as he thought. "The hell did I do?" Emilia then nodded as Reinhard and Julius walked up hill to go get the others to prepare.

"Barusu come here." Ram pointed toward Subaru as she walked over closer to the glowing lake. Subaru blushed and nodded as he followed her.

With the lake giving a chill to the air, Subaru took in the temperature as he gazed at the stars. "The night sky is beautiful." Subaru says to Ram as they stared into the stars. "It sure is, Barusu." Ram's hand slips into his as they held each other close.

After a small moment of silence, Ram spoke. "Good job, Barusu." Ram looked at Subaru with a small smile on her pretty face, showing him that she was proud of Subaru for defeating Lye and Regulus. Subaru blushed and held her hand tighter. "T-thanks Ram!" He said with a small smile back.

They stood holding each other for a small moment. Without a word, Ram pulls Subaru closer to her, as their faces were now inches away from each other. Subaru blushed as his eyes grew wide. With Subaru knowing what Ram wanted, He pulled Ram in for a kiss. Their tongues touched, with each other's saliva swishing through their mouths. Subaru felt his face grow red along with Ram's, warming them in the cold atmosphere. Subaru looked at Ram and could tell she was clearly enjoying it, so he closed his eyes.

In his peripheral vision, he saw something shine across the sky. Looking up, he saw a shooting star shoot across the sky. Ram noticed this too as she smiled looking at Subaru. They fell into another kiss again as they held each other there for what felt like hours. After letting go, Ram stared into Subaru's red face. She then gave him a small smack in the face as she scoffed. "Let's go, stupid Barusu." Subaru nodded with a smile, as they proceeded to the carriage, catching up with the others.

Going toward the now destroyed village, they heard a voice shout from the distance. "Subaru, Ram! So that's where you two ran off two, what are you doing here anyways?" Ram then pointed at Subaru with a smirk. "Barusu is being a massive pervert, Miss Emilia." Ram scoffed at Subaru, pretending nothing had just happened.

Subaru looked at Ram with a priceless face as he started to shout. "I was not being a pervert; it was more like you were!" Ram then shrugged with a smug look on her face. "The wonderful Ram would never do such a thing!" Subaru then rolled his eyes as Emilia pointed toward the wooded area which was being illuminated by a lantern. She led the two toward the carriage, where everyone was seen checking their belongings and packing for yet again another trip.

"Are you guys ready?" Emilia asked Ram and Subaru, who were now standing by the crowded carriage. "I am, Barusu is not. Stupid Barusu." Ram scoffed at Subaru. Subaru then rolled his eyes again as he turned over to Ram to yell at her once again.

"Oh, would you shut up already?!" Subaru yelled at the smirking Ram. She shrugged her shoulders as she made a smug face once again. "Hah" Ram once again scoffed at Subaru as she mocked him, once again showing a tough front.

Subaru entered the carriage and grabbed his belongings as he skimmed through them and lazily threw them back inside. "All ready." He groaned as Ram sighed. "You truly are useless, Barusu" Subaru shrugged at her response and boarded the carriage which was now crowded.

Beatrice was being squished in between Reinhard and Julius. She looked to be very irritated, judging by the look on her face. Rem was sitting by Emilia and Frederica as they were having a small chat. All the seats were taken, minus the passenger's seat by Otto.

Subaru took a moment to observe the crowded carriage, thinking to himself. "Wait a second, where would Ram sit?... Wait a second..." Subaru then had an idea that brought a smirk on his face.

"Looks like there's nowhere for you to sit, Ram." Subaru said, smirking. He walked out of the back of the carriage and around toward the passenger's seat. He boarded it, sitting by Otto as Ram followed him. "Looks like I have no choice then, stupid Barusu."

Ram then boarded up to Subaru and sat on his lap, almost as if it was natural. Subaru's face quickly turned red with a blush as he saw Ram sitting on his lap. "H-huh, Mister Natsuki?!" Otto turned to see Ram sitting on Subaru's lap. Otto was surprised at the scene that was unfolding before him. Subaru smirked at him as he looked away quickly with a blush on his face.

"I kind of feel left out..." Otto muttered as Subaru looked at him with a sad look on his face. Subaru leaned close into his ear as he whispered to him. "Don't worry, I'll help you out one day..." Otto then looked at Subaru with a small smile on his face. "Thanks, Mr. Natsuki!" He spoke.

Subaru turned back to see everyone in the carriage. "Are we ready? Where's our next location, Julius?" Julius responded. "It would appear the Sin Archbishop of Lust was last seen in a town near the capital called Priestella." Subaru nodded as he turned to Otto. "Let's go!" He nodded as he whipped the land dragon, proceeding toward the capital once again.

Otto looked to his left at Subaru and Ram, who looked very tired. Ram closed her eyes as Subaru tightly hugged her so she didn't fall off the rumbling carriage. She dozed off, leaving Subaru and Otto in silence. Otto looked over at Subaru as he asked. "Mr. Natsuki, can I ask you something?" Subaru nodded. "What is it Otto?" Otto started.

"Well, the maid that you sent me with... Me and her talked a lot on our way to the capital- and we got along surprisingly well-" Subaru smiled and cut him off. "You mean Frederica?" Otto nodded with a blush on his face. "Yeah- and I was just wondering if you think that..." Subaru nodded as he started to talk.

"Don't worry about it." Otto nodded, giving Subaru room to talk. "I see, well, I'll keep you updated Mr. Natsuki. Maybe you should come along with us sometime!" Subaru nodded. "Sure thing!" Otto nods, giving Subaru thanks once again.

Subaru held onto Ram as he looked down at her pink hair which he stroked lightly. Calming down, he started to squint his eyes as he dug his head into her cloak. "I love you, Ram..." He muttered as his vision blurred and he started to fall asleep.

Volume 5 End


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